Upped to Group 2 from listed status and reduced from two miles, the Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot has undergone more of a slight shift than a metamorphosis which is evidenced by the overall quality of the line-up. With the class acts going to the King Edward VII, the way is open for some slow-burners including Abdulla Al Mansoori's Time To Study (Fr) (Motivator {GB}), who represents the Mark Johnston yard which is one short of the record of eight winners held by Sir Henry Cecil. He defied topweight in Musselburgh's Edinburgh Cup H. over this distance last time on June 3 and will be a tough nut to crack. Aidan O'Brien won this in its former guise five times and Belgravia (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) gets the Ryan Moore treatment and first-time blinkers after finishing fourth as favourite for Navan's Listed Yeats S. over 13 furlongs last time on May 20. His compatriot Haripour (Ire) (Shamardal), a half-brother to last year's G1 English and Irish Derby hero Harzand (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), raced on the same card and came alive in that headgear when winning by 5 1/2 lengths over the same distance. John Gosden excels with staying 3-year-olds and Bjorn Nielsen's Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) looks typical of those he has worked wonders with in the past following his six-length maiden win over 10 furlongs at Beverley on Apr. 19 and second under topweight over 12 furlongs at Chester on May 10.
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