Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix Of Spain trained by Charles Hills is said to be right on course for Royal Ascot where he will face many of his rivals that he beat at the Curragh in the Group 1 contest.
The three year old colt made a magnificent seasonal reappearance in Ireland beating favourite Too Darn Hot by four lengths to take his first ever black type race and round of a remarkable day for his trainer.
A big rematch is now on the cards at Royal Ascot with the St James’s Palace Stakes on June 18th and Charles Hills can't wait to see his superstar three year old get back out onto a racecourse.
He said: “He seems to have come out of the race really well. He’s back in his normal routine now and he’s eating well, so we’re looking forward to the Tuesday of Ascot.
“We were obviously delighted with him at the Curragh. He was going away from them at the end, and galloped right through the line.
“You’d like to think there’s some improvement there, and it’s quite nice to be going into Royal Ascot with just one run under his belt this year – he’s going there nice and fresh.
“I think we’d like to try him over a mile and a quarter at some stage, but there’s no rush. We’ll take each race as it comes – but he seems pretty good over a mile, and there are plenty of nice mile races for him.
“One race you might think of stepping up in trip for would be in Ireland for the Irish Champion Stakes, but we’ll see.”