Royal Dress booked in for Epsom return

James Tate will send Royal Dress to Epsom on Derby day for the Princess Elizabeth Stakes following her third-place effort at York last month.

The five-year old ran into the impressive Andrew Balding-trained See The Fire in the Middleton Stakes but Royal Dress only lost second in the dying strides.

She will now head back to the Surrey Downs for another crack at a race she was only beaten three-quarters of a length into third in last year.

Tate said: “It was her first run back and it’s the first time she’s tried the mile and a quarter. She tried to beat the Balding filly who seemed to be on exceptional form that day and probably suffered a little bit because of that in not hanging onto second place. But third was still a decent comeback run.

“I would think we’ll go to Epsom on Saturday for that Group Three, the Princess Elizabeth. She was a very unlucky third in it last year.”

Majestic Warrior is likely to head for the Knavesmire and the Ebor after returning from a 698-day absence with an impressive victory at Thirsk in April.

Tate is giving the son of Churchill time to recover but is wary of the lack of experience of the five-year-old who has only raced four times, winning three of them.

He added: “The Ebor is probably the long-term plan. We’re just plotting what to do between now and then really. We’ll give him plenty of time off after his win and then we’ve just got to consider our handicap mark don’t we. 98 gets you into the Ebor, and 108 probably gets you beat in the Ebor.

“He’s a good horse but he probably lacks is a little bit of experience. That’s the only thing that puts me off sending him straight to a big handicap. We’re pretty sure he has the engine for it but he’s still a little green.”