Ribblesdale Stakes beckons for talented Gilded Prize

Gilded Prize is set to be rerouted to the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot after connections opted to sidestep this weekend’s Prix de Diane.

The Juddmonte homebred looked every inch a top-class filly in the making after winning her first three starts, completing her hat-trick with an emphatic Group Three success at Saint-Cloud in mid-April.

Francis-Henri Graffard’s charge blotted her copybook with a shock defeat in the Group Two Prix Saint-Alary last month and while she will not bid for Classic glory in the French Oaks at Chantilly on Sunday, Juddmonte’s racing manager Barry Mahon is hopeful she will bounce back to form at the Royal meeting next week.

“We want to go a mile and a half with her now and we had the option of Ascot, so we said we’d wait and go to the Ribblesdale,” said Mahon.

“She’s in good form. We all have our own theories about her last run, but we’re all aligned on the fact that it wasn’t her running. For whatever reason we don’t know, but her work has been very good since and we’re pretty confident she’ll leave that run behind her.

“She wants good ground, the mile and a half won’t be a problem and we’re excited to see what she can do.”

Gilded Prize will be part of a relatively small but select Juddmonte Ascot team, with Mahon adding: “I’d say we’re light (on numbers).

“I think Blue Bolt is on track for the Duke of Cambridge. Obviously her comeback win in Goodwood was good, this has sort of been the plan since last year with her and she’s in good form and on track for that.

“We’ll have a two-year-old called Jolivette who will hopefully run in the Albany. She won her maiden in Newmarket in good fashion.

“Hopefully Kalpana will go for the Hardwicke on the Saturday and there might be one or two more in handicaps, but they’re the main ones I’d say.”