Aidan O’Brien quickly overcame a brief flirtation with running Gleneagles in the Derby and that decision will pay off with a vengeance if the dual-Guineas hero joins an elite club by landing the St James’s Palace Stakes on Day One of Royal Ascot.
The tone for a potentially record-breaking Irish week may be set straight away if Sole Power becomes the first ever three-time winner of the Kings Stand Stakes but Ireland’s reigning Horse of the Year faces a stiff task in that famous 19-runner sprint.
In contrast just half a dozen line up for the St James’s Palace, a race O’Brien has dominated like no one else but for which a seventh victory would put a definitive seal on the Irishman’s dominance.
He currently shares the race record of six victories with the 19th century trainer Matthew Dawson and there will be major disappointment in the Coolmore camp if Gleneagles can't become the first of theirs since Mastercraftsman to win the three year old mile feature.
Illustrious company
Brilliant in the Newmarket Guineas and dogged at the Curragh to overcome a bad position and ground softer than ideal, Gleneagles will have to overcome the French Guineas winner Make Believe to join some illustrious company.
Only Rock Of Gibraltar (2002) and Henrythenavigator (2008) have completed the Newmarket-Curragh-Ascot hat-trick for O’Brien before. Before them you have to go back to Right Tack in 1969.
O'Brien and jockey Ryan Moore have always insisted Gleneagles is a miler pure and simple, a point that always made a Derby tilt unlikely.
The form of Make Believe’s Guineas win got the perfect boost when New Bay won the Prix Du Jockey Club but the latter’s chance at Longchamp last month was fatally compromised by a bad draw, something which helped allow Make Believe enjoy something of a freebie in front.
Even in a small field, Olivier Peslier is unlikely to get that here and it's hard to ignore Make Believe's trainer Andre Fabre when he conceded: "I was very impressed with Gleneagles in the 2,000 Guineas: impressed with his confirmation, action, attitude: he looks something special."
When your principal opponent, especially a master trainer like Fabre is of that mind, it’s difficult to make an argument against O’Brien making the James’s Palace his own and securing a 44th Royal Ascot triumph in all.
Sole Power earned a career high 119 rating for his spectacular Kings Stand triumph last year and there would be widespread delight if he can pull off what no other sprinter has ever managed to do before.
Eddie Lynam's stalwart is now rated just 1lb lower and is likely to start favourite but his late run style, while hugely exciting, is also notably risky and from a betting point of view, the race's other 118-rated Group One winner, G Force, looks a big price for Ireland's champion jockey Pat Smullen.
Jim Bolger’s Round Two has been hugely impressive in two starts to date and will be a major fancy in the Coventry Stakes but a repeat of 2013, when Irish -trained horses won the first four races on Day One, including the three Group One prizes, looks unlikely.
O'Brien's Cougar Mountain has shown nothing to indicate he can compete with a truly international line-up for the Queen Anne Stakes that sees the French star Solow take on Hong Kong's Able Friend with the Richard Hannon pair, Night Of Thunder and Toormore, leading the home team.
The giant Able Friend brings a huge reputation but a straight mile up the Ascot undulations will be new, both for the horse dubbed 'The Beast from the East' and Brazilian jockey Joao Moreira.
"He has such a big following at home that he is really Hong Kong's horse," said Able Friend's trainer John Moore.
However the US star Animal Kingdom found the Queen Anne a step too far when he famously tried his Ascot luck and there's no guarantee either the course will play to Solow's strengths. The comparatively overlooked Toormore has something to find on figures but is playing at home and will relish fast ground.
Willie Mullins knows what it takes to win at this meeting and having Ryan Moore team up with Clondaw Warrior is a clear plus for the champion jumps trainer in the Ascot Stakes. The record tally of Irish trained winners at Royal Ascot is eight, which has been reached in the last three years, and also in 2008.
