White Birch beat Auguste Rodin at the Curragh last month© Photo Healy Racing
The rematch between Auguste Rodin and White Birch in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes is off, with John Murphy’s grey a notable absentee from a final field of nine for Wednesday’s Royal Ascot feature.
Having met in the Tattersalls Gold Cup recently, where White Birch came out on top, the pair meeting again would have been one of the highlights of the week, but that will now have to be another day.
For Auguste Rodin, last year’s dual Derby, Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, it was a first defeat when he has not totally run below form, but Aidan O’Brien is expecting him to improve for the run. O’Brien is also represented by Hans Andersen.
There are four runners trained in France – Blue Rose Cen and Snobbish, both trained by Maurizio Guarnieri, Zarakem for Jerome Reynier and Patrice Cottier’s Horizon Dore.
The UK challenge is led by John and Thady Gosden’s Inspiral and is supplemented by the Owen Burrows-trained Alflaila and Karl Burke’s Royal Rhyme.
A big field of 26 will go to post for the Queen Mary, with the unbeaten Enchanting Empress making her first start for Raphael Freire having won three for Dominic French Davis.
Make Haste has impressed to date for Diego Dias and is sure to have her supporters, while Ryan Moore is on O’Brien’s Truly Enchanting. Leovanni and Wesley Ward’s Ultima Grace are others to note.
Last year’s winner Rogue Millennium is back again in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes but this time represents Joseph O’Brien rather than Tom Clover.
Stablemate Gregarina, Willie McCreery’s Ocean Jewel and Adrian Murray’s Magical Sunset give Ireland a strong hand, with Christopher Head’s Sea The Lady also declared against Laurel for the Gosdens.
Aidan O’Brien has four of the 12 declared in the Queen’s Vase in Grosvenor Square, Highbury, Illinois and The Equator, while Jessica Harrington’s Birdman is another well-fancied runner.
A maximum 30 will go to post for the Royal Hunt Cup with top-weight Sonny Liston aiming to go one better than last year.
There are 25 in the Kensington Palace Stakes with the weights headed by the Harrington-trained Villanova Queen, while in the closing Windsor Palace Stakes a maximum field of 28 juveniles, including Richard Fahey’s Shadow Army, will come hurtling down Ascot’s straight five furlongs.
