Unbeaten superstar Palace Pier will put his record on the line come Saturday as he heads a field of 14 runners in the Queen Elizabeth II over a mile at Ascot.
The son of Kingman has been faultless to date, winning both his starts as a juvenile, starting at Sandown back in August winning a nice maiden and then going on to back that up over the same course and distance.
He made his seasonal debut at Newcastle on the all weather seeing off a stern effort from the Richard Fahey trained Acquitted but off the back of that he improved a massive amount to hunt down Pinatubo late in the day at Royal Ascot in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
Having four wins from four races, he put his unbeaten run on the line in what was arguably his toughest event to date and in heavy ground cleared away from the field with the Jessica Harrington trained Alpine Star the closest to him.
Heavy ground is forecasted for the Group One meeting on Saturday and having previously proved he will go on the surface, he looks to be one of the banker of the meetings for many punters.
Gosden also fields the Hamdan Al Maktoum owned Nazeef who has had a superb season to date and got back to winning ways last time out when winning the Group One Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket in testing conditions.
We can’t wait for this! Palace Pier puts his unbeaten record on the line in Saturday’s QEII 🚀 pic.twitter.com/oT0DMbGW36
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 15, 2020
The main rival to the Gosden pair is the Francis-Henri Graffard trained The Revenant who was second in this race last year to King Of Change.
The five year old son of Dubawi only made his seasonal reappearance at the recent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe meeting when winning the Prix Daniel Wildenstein for a second time, but that run should put him spot on for this event.
Aidan O'Brien as ever has a decent team entered into the race with the consistent Circus Maximus leading the line followed by Lancaster House and Group Two Royal Lodge winner Royal Dornoch.
Sir Busker is set to step up to Group One company after a successful season in handicaps and he will take on his nemesis Dark Vision, with the pair being neck and neck all season.
Century Dream goes for Simon & Ed Crisford, whilst course and distance winner Lord Glitters will be looking to win for the first time since his victory in the 2018 Queen Anne Stakes at the royal meeting.
Roseman looked a bright prospect for Roger Varian but the handler has not been able to get the best out of him this term and he will be joined by stablemate Molatham who has not been able to prove his worth at this top level.
Group One winner Veracious could cause an upset at 40/1, whilst the David O'Meara trained Escobar makes up the final runner of the race and he will have to outrun his odds of 100/1 to get in the mix.