KING’S STAND STAKES (G1) 1000M (12-05AM EST)
1 BORDERLESCOTT (Compton Place – Jeewan by Touching Wood)
2 CANNONBALL (Catienus – No Deadline by Skywalker)
3 CAPTAIN GERRARD (Oasis Dream – Delphinus by Soviet Star)
4 DANDY MAN (Mozart – Lady Alexander by Night Shift)
5 EQUIANO (Acclamation – Entente Cordiale by Ela-Mana-Mou)
6 HOH HOH HOH (Piccolo – Nesting by Thatching)
7 MYTHICAL FLIGHT (Jet Master – Mythical Bird by Harry Hotspur)
8 SCENIC BLAST (Scenic – Daughter´s Charm by Delgado)
9 TAX FREE (Tagula – Grandel by Owington)
10 WI DUD (Elnadim – Hopesay by Warning)
11 FLEETING SPIRIT (Invincible Spirit – Millennium Tale by Distant Relative)
12 AMOUR PROPRE (Paris House – Miss Prim by Case Law)
13 RIEVAULX WORLD (Compton Place – Adhaaba by Dayjur)
14 SPIN CYCLE (Exceed and Excel – Spinamix by Spinning World)
15 ANGLEZARKE (Acclamation – Welsh Mist by Damister)
Australian sprinters have won three of the last six editions of this race and that fine record can be enhanced by Scenic Blast who completed the Lightning Stakes/Newmarket Handicap double in Melbourne earlier this year.
Previous King’s Stand winners Takeover Target and Miss Andretti also collected the Flemington double before travelling to Royal Ascot.
“Scenic Blast is very effective over 1000m and 1200m,” trainer Dan Morton told Racing Post UK. “Five furlongs at Ascot is probably a harder five than our five at home. We have similar form to Choisir coming into Royal Ascot and Scenic Blast is in good nick and should be fairly competitive.”
Since the Australians began to plunder this prize, France and Spain have also come into play and there has been only one British-trained winner since the watershed year of Choisir in 2003.
Pick of the home defence looks to be Amour Propre who ended his two-year-old campaign with a win over this track and trip in the Cornwallis Stakes (G3). He began this season with a two length win in the Palace House Stakes (G3) at Newmarket. His trainer Henry Candy has handled some seriously fast horses in his long career and believes the Paris House colt can become the 12th three year-old to beat the older horses in the King’s Stand since 1980.
“He has relaxed an awful lot, but is the sort of horse who works so well at home he can totally wreck anything so I had to teach him to settle,” he said. “I’m sure on raceday, he’ll wake up. I think he’s pretty much as good as the best I’ve trained.”
South Africa will be represented by the dual Group 1 winner Mythical Flight, who has to rebound off a latest sixth in Kranji’s International Sprint (G1) on May 17.
“Mythical Flight did not travel over well from Singapore, but he is coming right now,” trainer Sean Tarry said of the six-year-old. “He is a specialist over five furlongs and is a very good horse. He is in with a chance.”
TIPS: 1 SCENIC BLAST, 2 AMOUR PROPRE, 3 FLEETING SPIRIT
Betting – 3/1 Scenic Blast, 7/2 Amour Propre, 9/2 Fleeting Spirit, 9/1 Borderlescott, 10/1 Tax Free, 20/1 Equiano, 20/1 Mythical Flight, 25/1 Hoh Hoh Hoh, 25/1 Spin Cycle, 33/1 Anglezarke, 33/1 Cannonball, 33/1 Dandy Man, 66/1 Captain Gerrard, 66/1 Rievaulx World, 66/1 Wi Dud.