If it is D-Day for Free Eagle then the ‘D’ stands for the Dermot Weld-trained star finally delivering on a towering reputation in Group One style.
The scale of that reputation can be gauged from a Prince Of Wales’s Stakes field that sees proven top-flight international winners on Royal Ascot’s day two feature.
Australia’s Criterion is joined by Japan’s Spielberg and French star Ectot, while no less than The Grey Gatsby heads a home team. Even in the unfortunate absence of the American superstar California Chrome, it is a stellar line up.
Notable win
But it is the Irish hope, a horse with just four career starts, who’s most notable win to date is a mere Group Three, and who hasn’t run in eight months, that has dominated the ante-post betting and is widely expected to confirm his status as a top-class performer.
A three-year-old campaign decimated by a broken pelvis eventually saw Free Eagle make a spectacular return to action at Leopardstown last September and there was much to like about his only subsequent start in the Champion Stakes on unsuitably heavy ground when third.
There will be no such excuse today and even the lack of a warm-up run won’t count if the Irish star loses. Leopardstown proved he can emerge sharp after a long layoff and Weld is a master of getting them ready for when it counts.
Reputation
Ectot has a huge reputation, winning at the top level as a two-year-old, and could be the biggest danger to Free Eagle, although Japan’s Spielberg can boast a defeat of Gentildonna on fast ground over 10 furlongs and a double- digit price about him may be too big.
Smullen comes in for the ride on Michael Stoute's Bragging in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes, although it's not hard to see why Ryan Moore sided with stable companion Integral despite the older mare having to give weight all-round.
Richard Hughes and Richard Hannon have nominated Ivawood, third in the English and Irish Guineas, as their banker of the week, but this one has to give weight and there could be value with one of the two fillies, Fadhayyil.
