Saeed Bin Surour sees gold in Colour Vision

Dubai: Godolphin’s Saeed Bin Surour relies upon last year’s winner Colour Vision as be bids to land a sixth Gold Cup, the most prestigious event for stayers and the highlight of Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot.

Recent Sagaro Stakes winner Estimate is on course to give The Queen a royal winner in a race which is the first leg of Britain’s Stayers’ Triple Crown, followed by the Goodwood Cup and the Doncaster Cup. The Gold Cup is one of three perpetual trophies at the Royal Ascot meeting, along with the Royal Hunt Cup and the Queen’s Vase, which can be kept permanently by the winning owners.

Colour Vision is bidding to join an elite group of horses who have won the race more than once, the most successful of them being Yeats, who is a four-time winner of the 4,000m event.

Dermot Weld has kept his options open by leaving both Rite Of Passage and Pale Mimosa among the 19 horses to stand their ground for the Gold Cup.

Rite Of Passage was a late withdrawal from the Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown last week, leaving stablemate Pale Mimosa to land the race.

However, the participation of both horses remains unclear, with Weld subsequently reporting that he would not risk Rite Of Passage — winner of the Gold Cup three years ago — on quick ground and that the race might come too soon for Pale Mimosa after her exertions.

There were few surprises among the other 17 left in the race, with all of the expected market leaders still among the line-up.

Andre Fabre has left in Last Train and Francois Doumen intends to run Top Trip, while German trainer Andreas Wohler also retains two possible starters in Altano and Earl of Tinsdal.

Godolphin’s Bin Surour relies upon last year’s winner Colour Vision, while recent Sagaro Stakes winner Estimate is on course to give The Queen a royal runner.

Number Theory, Model Pupil, High Jinx and Times Up, all beaten in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown last month, are all in contention, while John Oxx’s Saddler’s Rock is also sure to be among the market leaders.

Irish raiders Alive Alive Oh and Just Pretending feature among a field of 12 fillies declared for the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot on Thursday.

The Tommy Stack-trained Alive Alive Oh has impressed on her two starts this season, running out a six-length winner of the Listed Salsabil Stakes at Navan in early May. The three-year-old now steps up to Pattern class for the first time en-route to a possible tilt at the Irish Oaks.

Aidan O’Brien’s Just Pretending has already shown her worth at the highest level having finished a fine third in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, but she now steps up half a mile in distance.

Epsom Oaks third The Lark represents the best of the home challenge for Newmarket trainer Michael Bell, while John Gosden runs Oaks eighth Gertrude Versed, as well as the unexposed Winsili.

Other contenders include Michael Stoute’s Height of Fashion Stakes winner Elik, Jane Cecil’s Riposte and Fersah from the in-form stable of William Haggas.