Ladies First

Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy), who provided one of the enduring moments in Royal Ascot's history in the G2 Queen Mary S. last year, is back on the revered heath for Tuesday's G1 King's Stand S., where she bids to dethrone the current sprint queen of England, Marsha (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}). Like their respective trainers Wesley Ward and Sir Mark Prescott, the fillies are worlds apart in character with the American challenger as brash as she is talented and Marsha a more reserved force. Lady Aurelia's command performance here was no aberration, as she added substance with a win in the G1 Prix Morny at Deauville in August before finishing a creditable third in Newmarket's G1 Cheveley Park S. in September. Five furlongs and fast ground make for an ideal cocktail for the Stonestreet icon, whose warm-up win in Keeneland's Giant's Causeway S. Apr. 15 could not have gone better. “Lady Aurelia is a true champion. She is a sweetheart year round and when she gets to the track, she puts it all in,” Ward said. “Last year, she was working better than any two-year-old I had previously brought over so I knew I had something special. I expected she would win, but not the dominating performance which was special.” Ward has been on tenterhooks concerning the fact that she bled in the Cheveley Park, but all the indications are positive at present. “I was a little worried that she did a little too much in her gallop last week,” he added. “This year she has been perfect, but I have not asked her to do as much as she did then. So I was really, really relieved when the vet who scoped her said she was clean. I was really nervous until then, but now I am very confident. She breezed superb and like she trained there every day with her head down. I think she is going to run her A race. We were making excuses for her when she won a Group One over six furlongs in France last year and I just think that five furlongs is her game and what she is most effective at.”

Marsha looked a smart filly even before she lifted the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye at Chantilly on Arc day, but it was her comeback effort in the G3 Palace House S. at Newmarket that put her in another category. Defying a seven-pound penalty in that May 6 sprint which included eight of this line-up, Elite Racing Club's latest dignitary stands comparison with some of the finest British female sprinters of recent times. “Winning the Palace House with a penalty is not done often and on that run she's better than last year, but now she's got to keep it going,” Prescott commented. “She's very willing, very sound and very straightforward, except she will tank. The girl who looks after her, Sarah [Oliveira], rides her in all her work. Luke [Morris] gets on with her very well, but is not allowed to see her at home.”

Another group 1 winner from 2016 who seems to have progressed again is Signs of Blessing (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who returned to the scene of his Prix Maurice de Gheest success at Deauville to give 11 pounds and a comfortable two-length beating to last year's King's Stand winner Profitable (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in the May 13 G3 Prix de Saint-Georges. Profitable's stablemate Priceless (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) beat the 2015 King's Stand hero Goldream (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in Haydock's G2 Temple S. May 27 and makes for a formidable challenge from Clive Cox, who said, “I am very happy with Profitable. I think the run at Deauville has put him bang-on–he did very well over the winter and I am really thrilled with the way he has been training. He has a real spark in his eye and I am very happy. He is a proven group one horse. [Priceless] is a filly that has undoubtedly kept on improving with age. She did very well over the winter and she likes top-of-the-ground, so it looks as if we will have ground conditions in her favour for the first day of Ascot.”

Another who has conditions in his favour is the Shadwell representative Muthmir (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who bounced back to winning ways in Chantilly's G2 Prix du Gros-Chene over this trip last time June 4. “He probably hasn't got a great draw as a lot of the pace seems to be on the other side with the American filly drawn high, Take Cover in 11 and Cotai Glory in 16,” trainer William Haggas commented. “But I'm very happy with him going in to the race. He's in great shape and he'll like the ground.”