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Al Kazeem, Camelot highlight Prince of Wales's Few would have expected the four-year-old campaign of Camelot to have suffered so early a setback, but there was no fluke in the way Al Kazeem brushed him aside in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh on May 26. The two will renew their rivalry in Wednesday's Group 1 Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot. Al Kazeem's defeat of Camelot could be viewed as an upset, but the five-year-old son of Dubawi was not winning out of turn last time, having impressed in his two prior starts. Sidelined since winning the Group 2 Jockey Club at Newmarket in May 2012, Al Kazeem returned to the races this year with an easy tally in Sandown's Group 3 Gordon Richards on April 27. "He came out of the Curragh race in great nick and showed everyone how exciting this season could be," jockey James Doyle said. "He's always been pretty good, but he improved massively from three to four and I think he has done again. His mentality is fantastic and the way he relaxes in his races makes my job easier." Aidan O'Brien revealed after Camelot's latest reversal that he had taken it easy with last year's English Two Thousand Guineas and English and Irish Derby hero so far this season and he has applied some extra pressure in the interim. "We've been looking forward to him and this will be his big test, mid-summer," the trainer commented. "We've been very happy with him since the Curragh and this is the main target. He had a setback in the winter and we've been taking him along gently and slowly building him up. "We're happy that Al Kazeem is running again, because we can gauge Camelot then and whether he is making the progression we hope he is going to." Like Elusive Kate in the Queen Anne Tuesday, John Gosden is pitching another filly into the deep end on her seasonal comeback in The Fugue. Winner of the Group 1 Nassau S. at Goodwood in August, the four-year-old filly will be making her first start since a troubled third in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Maxios arrives in the Prince of Wales's on the back of a career-best success in the Group 1Prix d'Isaphan at Longchamp May 26 and the half-brother to Bago has hit a rich vein of form of late, having won the Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt on April 7 and finished second in the Group 1 Prix Ganay on April 28. No Godolphin representative can be safely ignored in the race in which they hold the record of five wins, but last year's Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club runner-up and Group 2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano scorer Saint Baudolino has major improvement to find following a fourth in the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 on Meydan's Tapeta surface. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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