Friday’s Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot promises to be one of the highlights of the meeting, with several high-class three-year-old fillies set to clash over six furlongs.
The straight six-furlong sprint, run at 3.05pm, is a pure speed test and course form at Ascot is always a significant advantage heading into the contest.
Venetian Sun arrives with some of the strongest course credentials in the field, having won the Albany Stakes over this exact trip at last year’s Royal meeting.
Karl Burke’s filly then went on to claim the Group One Prix Morny at Deauville later that summer, firmly establishing herself as one of the top juveniles of her generation.
She returned this season with a tilt at the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, but the Rowley Mile’s extended trip found her out, and she failed to stay the extra furlong.
The filly bounced back to form emphatically when dropped back to six furlongs in the Sandy Lane at Haydock last time, making light work of her opponents.
If Venetian Sun reproduces that performance at Royal Ascot, she will take plenty of stopping, though her current odds make her too short to back in the World Pool Win and Place markets.
Havana Anna is another compelling contender, having won in Listed company last season before finishing a close-up second to True Love in the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes in September.
Donnacha O’Brien’s filly returned this season with a victory in a Group Three at Naas and looks fully primed for a step back into top-class company on Friday.
Zanthos is a fascinating runner, lightly raced with only four starts to her name but already showing high-class form across each of those appearances.
She won her maiden over seven furlongs in impressive style before following up with victory in the Group Two Rockfel Stakes on just her third career start.
Her run in the French Guineas can be forgiven entirely, as the ground was too soft to show her best on that occasion.
Dropping back to six furlongs on faster going looks an ideal setup for Zanthos, and she represents strong each-way appeal as part of a Quinella alongside Venetian Sun and Havana Anna.
Later on the card, the Group One Coronation Stakes at 4.20pm brings a third instalment of the fascinating rivalry between Ballydoyle stablemates Precise and True Love.
Precise was perhaps not fully wound up when she disappointed behind True Love in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, but she reversed that form decisively when the pair met in the Irish version last month.
True Love chased Precise home at the Curragh, and the likely outcome here is a similar result, making a Precise to beat True Love Exacta in the World Pool the standout play of the race.