Royal Ascot

The headline horse, as he was last year, is REACHING HIGH (nap) who is trained by Willie Mullins for the King and Queen and has not raced since the debacle 12 months ago when traffic problems in a steadily run race denied him any proper shot at landing the royal gamble. Trouble in running is part and parcel of this race but, off the same mark, it would be no surprise were Reaching High to put the record straight with a win, despite the year off. In total, 13 of this year's runners represent Irish stables. Joseph O'Brien has seven of them, coming at it from all sorts of promising angles and possibly headed by the impressive 2025 Irish Cesarewitch winner Puturhandstogether. Also of major interest, however, are Tony Martin's Westminster Moon and, for last year's winning trainer, Henry de Bromhead's Tim Toe. The latter's inexperience may outweigh his clear promise in calculations, so Westminster Moon, a class act in 2024 and resurgent last month, may prove the best alternative to the favourite.[Richard Austen]