Jubilee Of Speed

Royal Ascot's action goes out with a bang on Saturday as Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) heads a heavyweight cast in the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. While he has his downturns, on his day he is the finest older sprinter in Europe as he proved when running away with last year's G1 July Cup at Newmarket and G1 Prix de la Foret at Chantilly in October. Owner Paul Jacobs and trainer Henry Candy have no doubts that the easy ground scuppered his chance when 10th in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan on Mar. 25, and he has needed all of the subsequent time off to regain his verve. “Hopefully it will still be good, fast ground on Saturday,” Candy said. “If we don't get too much rain, it should be perfect. I've never seen him more depressed than when he got home from Dubai. I was surprised how much it did affect him. We had to force him a lot to get him as near fit as we could for World Cup night, then the ground was atrocious. He couldn't get any purchase on it and he pulled a lot of muscles and I think that is what got to him. It has just been a case of giving him plenty of time. It has taken us a long time to get him back to his old self, but he seems to be there now. He is full of cheek and full of fun and he is working well, so I'm happy.”

Fred Archer Racing's The Tin Man (GB) (Equiano {Fr}) returns to the scene of his career-best win in the G1 Qipco British Champions Sprint S. in October and he was carrying a penalty when fifth on his return in the G2 Duke of York S. at York on May 17. The clear-cut winner of that rain-affected contest was Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Tasleet (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), but he has vastly contrasting ground conditions to deal with as he bids to uphold his 2 1/2-length success from Magical Memory (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}). Tasleet's trainer William Haggas would prefer some rain after that performance, but he remains open-minded about the reason for the 4-year-old's sudden improvement. “He'd struggled on soft ground as a 2-year-old, so if anybody listened to me before he went to York I sadly put them off,” he explained. “I'd always tried to avoid it, but he looked to relish it at York. I wouldn't mind a bit of give, but I think the drop back in trip suited him more.”

Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds's Magical Memory (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}) was fourth when favourite for this race staged on unsuitable good-to-soft last year and although he may have won had the rain not arrived he was seventh behind Limato in the July Cup and now has something to prove. The owners' racing manager Sam Hoskins is keeping the faith. “Charlie [Hills] is very happy with the horse and I think we've got to be delighted with the draw in stall 18,” he commented. “He ran a cracker in the race last year to be beaten only half a length and we were really happy with his reappearance at York. Hopefully he should get much closer to Tasleet and hopefully that will be good enough to put him right in the mix.”

There was only a nose between The Right Man (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and Long On Value (Value Plus) when Limato flopped in the Al Quoz Sprint and although the betting suggests they will only be bit-players this time, The Right Man is already on the road for a $1-million Global Sprint Challenge bonus and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott is saddling his first runner at this meeting in the possibly aptly-named Long On Value. His son and assistant Riley Mott said, “Since we've brought him back in distance he's been coming from well off the pace in his races. With him it's just a matter of getting him relaxed, whether he is up close or further back to allow him to find his stride.”