News: George Washington will have perfect conditions to help him when he stages his long-awaited racing comeback in tomorrow's Queen Anne Stakes on day one of Royal Ascot.
Last year's champion miler will face seven opponents in the Group One highlight, which will be George Washington's first start since an unplaced effort in last November's Breeder's Cup Classic in Kentucky.
A highly publicised failure at stud due to sub-fertility has resulted in the colt's return to training and there will be widespread interest in how Aidan O'Brien has managed to rekindle George Washington's appetite for racing.
Significantly, though, the Ascot authorities are now forecasting perfect racing conditions for the first day of Britain's most famous festival, which will be a boost to the Irish superstar.
"A band of overnight rain could give us six to eight millimetres. After that it is basically dry until after racing on Tuesday. There are scattered showers around for the week so with that forecast I don't think we will be watering," said the clerk of the course, Chris Stickels.
"I'm delighted with the course. It's in great condition and the ground is currently good," he added.
George Washington will be the sole Irish runner in the Queen Anne but five of the eight runners in tomorrow's other Group One feature, the St James's Palace Stakes, will travel from here.
The dual-Guineas hero Cockney Rebel will take on the Newmarket third Dutch Art again and will also be facing up to the Curragh runner-up Creachadoir from Jim Bolger's yard.
He's A Decoy will represent David Wachman while Aidan O'Brien will be triple-handed with the French Guineas winner Astronomer Royal as well as Excellent Art and Duke Of Marmalade.
O'Brien has had 16 Royal Ascot winners in the last decade but Curragh trainer Tracey Collins will have her first runners tomorrow with Dandy Man trying to improve on last year's fourth in the King's Stand Stakes and Pencil Hill attempting to preserve his unbeaten record in the Coventry Stakes.
Dandy Man will have to face a strong challenge from the top Australian sprinters but Collins said yesterday: "He has come on from his last run at Naas and he's in good order. It's a Group Two and it doesn't matter if they're Australian, English or French - it's going to be a hot race."
Willie Mullins was out of luck at Autueil on Saturday when Alexander Taipan (seventh) and Clear Riposte (ninth) were well beaten in the French Champion Hurdle.
Zaiyad, owned by the Irish businessman Seán Mulryan, was an impressive winner of the Grande Course de Haies while another Irish owner, JP McManus, picked up the Prix Alain de Breil, the French Triumph Hurdle, with the Thierry Doumen-trained Good Bye Simon.
The Mullins pair Financial Reward and J'y Vole finished fifth and seventh respectively, and the trainer said: "The ground was too sticky for Financial Reward and J'y Vole might like a little bit more time between races."
This evening at Ballinrobe the Joanna Morgan-trained Katcharto Lady bids for four wins in a row in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle.
The prolific mare took advantage of a low handicap mark on the flat to trot up at Roscommon on her last start and is now 8lb higher for her previous hurdles victory at Punchestown.
Feel Good Factor returns to the track after a decent third to Medicinal on his last start and it should be within his grasp to beat a 107-rated horse like Boleyknowsbest in the two-mile Beginners Chase.
