KING OF KINGS, Sunday's spectacular Curragh winner and already favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas and Derby, will not run at Royal Ascot.
The brilliant Aidan O'Brien trained two-year-old will instead race in Ireland until the autumn when his target will be the Dewhurst Stakes.
The colt's part owner Michael Tabor out-lined the plan yesterday, along with his enthusiasm for a horse who is already drawing comparisons with past greats like Nijinsky.
"If this horse remains right, he could be awesome, so why rev him up for the Coventry at Ascot. Two-year-olds that run at Ascot are often never heard of again and he is too good for that," Tabor said.
He added: "I thought he was absolutely spectacular on Sunday. It was not so much what he beat but the way he did it. He was just lobbing all over them. This horse does it at home and he does it on the track. He's electrifying."
Tabor also revealed how he has helped himself to some of the prices offered for next year's Newmarket 2,000 Guineas. He has bet £11,000 at various prices on King Of Kings for the race.
OF this year's classic crop, a tilt at the Epsom Derby has still not been ruled out for Casey Tibbs. Trainer Dermot Weld will decide tomorrow whether the colt goes to Epsom or if he will be supplemented for Sunday's Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly.
"He will run where we think he has the best shot of running a good race. We haven't ruled him out of Epsom and I think his form is better than 90 per cent of what is left in at Epsom. The track would suit him and I feel he would run a very respectable race there," Weld said yesterday.
He also reported Dance Design to have come out of Sunday's Tatersalls Gold Cup in good shape, and while the filly has a Prince Of Wales Stakes entry, Weld expressed "a slight preference" for the Coronation Cup as her next race.
