Kingman, Night of Thunder round three highlights Royal Ascot opener

Kingman, Night of Thunder round three highlights Royal

Ascot opener

John Gosden is not approaching the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot

with Kingman believing it is a two-horse race.

The highlight on day one of the showpiece meeting is being billed as the

"royal rumble," as the Two Thousand Guineas winner Night of Thunder takes on

Gosden's Irish Two Thousand Guineas hero.

The Group 1 contest will be the third time the pair have met this season,

after Kingman won comfortably at Newbury in the Greenham before the Richard

Hannon Jr.-trained Night of Thunder turned the tables at Newmarket.

The bookmakers have Kingman as odds-on favorite to gain his revenge, which

Gosden disagrees with, and he is also giving full respect to the likes of Night

of Thunder's stablemate and champion two-year-old Toormore, as well as War

Command, last year's Coventry and Dewhurst winner.

"I'm very happy with him. This is a very good race, though -- it is by no

means a two-horse race and if anyone goes in there thinking it is they are

wrong, I'm certainly not underestimating anything," Gosden said.

Hannon is also struggling to see why Kingman is favored so much in the

betting.

"It's going to be a great race. I've got no reason to see why the form from

Newmarket's going to be reversed and I don't see why the betting isn't 6-4 each

of two," Hannon said.

Godolphin's Outstrip was a surprise winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf

but he ran no sort of a race at Newmarket. His trainer Charlie Appleby is

confident of a better display.

"Outstrip blew very hard after he finished last in the Guineas and he then

scoped dirty so we gave him a nice break, waited until he had finished his

treatment and then resumed training. I have been pleased with his preparation

since," Appleby said.

Hannon believes Toronado represents his best chance of a winner on Tuesday as

he puts the finishing touches to his team ahead of his first Royal Ascot as a

trainer in his own right.

Runner-up to Dawn Approach in the St James's Palace Stakes 12 months ago,

Toronado arrives in Berkshire for the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes this year

without the aid of a previous run. He has not been sighted since he disappointed

on his first run over 10 furlongs in the Juddmonte International at York and a

Breeders' Cup bid was subsequently abandoned after he failed to shine in a

gallop at Lingfield.

"Like my dad, all I ever ask for is at least one winner at Royal Ascot, and I

suppose our best chance comes in the very first race, with Toronado in the Queen

Anne Stakes," Hannon said. "This has always been Toronado's first target, and

his preparation could not have gone better."

Chief market rival for Toronado is Aidan O'Brien's American import Verrazano,

third in the Lockinge at Newbury behind Hannon's Olympic Glory on his European

debut which was his first run on grass. Jockey Joseph O'Brien expects

considerable improvement from his first run.

"He's done well since the Lockinge, we feel he's come on since the race,"

Joseph O'Brien said. "We feel he'll like Ascot, it's going to be his second run

on grass, he should have learned plenty from Newbury so we're looking forward to

it."

Four years ago Freddie Head's brilliant mare Goldikova just held off Paco Boy

and this year the French handler is bringing just one horse over for the

meeting, Goldikova's brother Anodin, who was supplemented for the race. He

finished just 1 1/2 lengths behind superstar Cirrus des Aigles on his latest

outing.

"He's been very good and I think he's improved this year, he's very well,"

Head said. "He's a horse I like from a family I know very well -- they have all

got better with age, none of them were precocious."

South African raider Soft Falling Rain is better judged on his defeat of

Montiridge at Newmarket than his heavy defeat at this course on Champions Day

when the ground went against him, a run that has helped make him the second

highest-rated runner in the race. He has had an interrupted preparation,

however, with his trainer Mike de Kock saying it was "touch and go" whether he

lined up just last month.

Hot Streak bids to live up to his name and his reputation when he goes for

Group 1 gold in the King's Stand Stakes. The three-year-old announced himself on

the sprinting stage with a clear-cut victory in the Temple Stakes at Haydock

last month and is strongly fancied to take the five-furlong honors.

"Hopefully he's the new sprinting sensation and I'm looking forward to seeing

him on a track that we know suits him against the best sprinters around. We'll

know where we stand at the end of tomorrow," said David Redvers, racing and

bloodstock manager for owner Qatar Racing.

The same colors are also sported by Pearl Secret, who was third in this race

12 months ago and was a half-length behind Hot Streak in the Temple.

"He ran a great race in this last year first time out, needing the run and it

was a run that puts him bang there," Redvers said.

Edward Lynam has high hopes of Sole Power repeating last year's victory as

long as the ground is quick enough for his stable flagbearer.

"We are very pleased with Sole Power and he has been in great form since he

won the Palace House Stakes. We hoped to run him at Haydock in the Temple Stakes

but the weather beat us," said the County Meath trainer.

South African sprint sensation Shea Shea was only caught close home and

beaten a neck behind Sole Power 12 months ago. The Mike de Kock-trained

speedster twice finished ahead of Sole Power at Meydan in the spring and

connections of the seven-year-old globetrotter are looking for another big run.

"He ran the race of his life last year. He's pretty much in the same form. It

just depends how the others in the race are," said de Kock's assistant Steve

Jell. "There are a couple of three-year-olds in there to worry about but he's in

good form."

Ger Lyons believes Cappella Sansevero's temperament will help him overcome

the disadvantage of being away from home when he competes in the Coventry Stakes

for two-year-olds. The unbeaten Showcasing colt gets his chance to tackle this

fascinating Group 2 contest after adding the Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh

to earlier wins at Dundalk and Naas.

"I'm happy where we're drawn, 13 has been lucky for me," said the County

Meath trainer.

The other horse unbeaten in three starts is Kool Kompany, who completed a

hat-trick in a Listed race at Naas where the odds-on War Envoy, trained by Aidan

O'Brien, was third and who renews rivalry.

"He has the best six-furlong two-year-old form in Europe, so why should we

run away from anything," said Tim Palin, racing manager for owners Middleham

Park Racing. "He deserves to take his chance and we are looking forward to the

race.

"War Envoy takes us on again, maybe a different War Envoy will turn up this

time we'll just have to wait and see. Adaay looks a very smart horse, and there

are plenty of once-raced maiden winners in the field."

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