The three-year-olds are really going to have to go some to infiltrate a strong older horse pool over 10 furlongs this season.
Constitution River looks the clubhouse leader over a mile-and-a-quarter amongst the Classic generation at the moment, but pre-Betfred Derby it’s very early amongst the three-year-olds with plenty of water to flow under the bridge.
Coming out of Royal Ascot that picture will clear up ahead of the Coral-Eclipse where it is with hope at least one of the three-year-olds will rock up at Sandown to take on the older horses.
But before then those older horses need to sort out their own pecking order over the distance and the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes is beginning to look like an unmissable clash on the second day of Royal Ascot.
Favourite at a best of 11/8 is the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Daryz, the Prix de l’Arc De Triomphe winner developing into a most versatile performer at four after wins in the Prix Ganay (10 furlongs) and Prix Aga Khan IV (nine furlongs) on his first two runs of the campaign.
The son of Sea The Stars looks quicker for another winter under his belt and while the Prince Of Wales’s will be his toughest task over 10 furlongs to date, it’s no wonder the bookies are running for cover.
Minnie Hauk, who Daryz beat a head in the Arc last October, had the chance to follow suit in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on Sunday but was below-par having found to be lame afterwards.
She could bounce back if recovering in time, particularly if she got a strongly-run 10 furlongs with the emphasis on stamina, but it was the Tattersalls Gold Cup winner, Almaqam, who threw his hat into the ring for Prince Of Wales’s glory.
Ed Walker’s horse was threatening to become disappointing for a horse of his ability, but he landed his first Group 1 thanks in part to a proactive Kieran Shoemark ride on good ground that might not be his optimum given he likes a bit of cut in the conditions.
To do it on his seasonal reappearance, as well, was particularly significant as he has seriously come on for his first run the last few years and that puts him right in the mix for the Royal Ascot prize.
With Aston Park Stakes winner Kalpana another Prince Of Wales’s possible, along with fellow five-year-old mare and Middleton winner See The Fire, it’s a serious division and that’s without mentioning last year’s winner, Ombudsman.
John & Thady Gosden’s son of Night Of Thunder was a slow burner, but he burst onto the scene as a four-year-old, coming of age in last year’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes before also landing Juddmonte International glory at York.
This year he has already landed odds of 2/5 in the Group 1 Dubai Turf at Meydan in March, but after opting to skip the Tattersalls Gold Cup he makes his domestic return at Sandown on Thursday evening in the Group 3 Star Sports Brigadier Gerard Stakes.
Rewind the clock 12 months and he also made his 2025 return in this race, when failing to concede a 3lb penalty to Almaqam, but as Sunday’s events suggest there was no shame in that and the Sandown race served its purpose in setting him up for a brilliant campaign.
The question on Thursday is a familiar one, then. This time he has a 7lb penalty to overcome, but he does have a class edge on his opposition even if there are a few potentially interesting rivals in against him.
Almeric for Andrew Balding and Kirsten Rausing would be one, but the Study Of Man colt has to prove he doesn’t need softer conditions to show his best and the evidence is stacking up that he does.
With that in mind perhaps new Wathnan purchase Gethin will be the most dangerous rival, the four-year-old son of Ghaiyyath marking himself out as a horse to follow after going with real zest in the Magnolia Stakes at Kempton last time.
That form has not worked out well, but Owen Burrows' horse couldn’t have done it any easier and it will be interesting to see if he can translate that improvement to turf on just his sixth career start.
Ombudsman’s penalty goes some way to levelling the playing field somewhat, but the Brigadier Gerard offers the Gosden-trained horse the chance to remind the likes of Daryz and Almaqam that the 10-furlong king is still sitting on the throne heading into Royal Ascot.
Indeed, it might while take a remarkable performance to dethrone him. But the way this division is going, that looks eminently possible amongst a pool of horses brimming with talent.
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