Guineas heroes poised for Palace rematch

A St James’s Palace Stakes to savour after the Derby was robbed of arguably its star attraction is the reward for everyone with even a remote interest in racing, as Ruling Court and Field Of Gold take each other on in a rematch of the 2000 Guineas at Royal Ascot.

Field Of Gold might have been even closer than he was to Ruling Court at Newmarket had things played out in his favour, but he showed his worth in the Irish Guineas. The Ruling Court team opted to wait for Epsom, but he was a late absentee as the ground was deemed too soft. As if round two is not enough on its own, Aidan O’Brien’s French Guineas winner Henri Matisse joins the battle.

“We took Ruling Court out of the Derby due to the ground, and we can have no excuses with conditions at Ascot,” trainer Charlie Appleby told the Godolphin website.

“It’s a very good renewal of the race and the track and trip will suit. We are looking at stepping up in trip at some point, but he has done very little wrong over a mile so far.”

The inquest into Field Of Gold’s reverse led to Kieran Shoemark being replaced by Colin Keane on the John and Thady Gosden-trained grey at the Curragh, a relationship further solidified with Keane being appointed retained rider for the Juddmonte operation.

“It’s going to be a huge race with some huge names and could be the race of the week, but we’re happy with Field Of Gold and looking forward to having another crack at the English Guineas winner and seeing how we get on,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon.

“We won’t know if Field Of Gold is a better horse than the one that went to Newmarket until after the race, but he is a horse who should keep improving through the year.

“We had to go to Ireland which was a bit of a diversion, but I think as the year progresses he will keep getting stronger. Whether we will see the difference on Tuesday I’m not sure, but we’re happy with him and he’s taking a step forward with every start this year and hopefully he can take another step again.

“John has always mentioned the Eclipse for him which is very much still a possibility or we could even give him a break after this and wait for Goodwood, but we will decide all this after the race.”

Henri Matisse won at the Breeders’ Cup last year for O’Brien and the handler expects both the course and quick ground will suit his charge.

“We always thought he liked fast ground and he proved in America he could handle a bend, so that was one of the reasons he went to France,” said O’Brien.

“I took the blame for him getting beaten in France last year, just the way we rode him, then he went and left that run well behind him next time in America.”