Our win selection in the Group One contest is the John & Thady Gosden trained Palace Pier, who if over his blood disorder is arguably the best miler in the world of racing.
The son of Kingman has been pretty much 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 the Group One Jacques Le Marois and in heavy ground cleared away from the field with the Jessica Harrington trained Alpine Star the closest to him.
That set him up perfectly for his final run of the season in the Group One Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on British Champions Day, but unfortunately he had to settle for third and lost his unbeaten record, unfortunately losing a shoe mid-way through the race.
This term, he has been better than ever in his three starts making his seasonal debut at Sandown in the Group Two bet365 Mile and in a race to blow the cobwebs away he took the event by eight lengths.
Fully tuned up for the season, he took on the Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury over a mile and again sauntered to victory, with him and Lady Bowthorpe going clear in the final stages.
His early part of the season was all targeted towards his run in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and in gritty style me made it three wins from three for the season.
Set to turn up in the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood he was pulled out with a blood disorder, but now said to be back on track he heads into this race looking to be the first horse to land back to back renewals since Spinning World in 1997.
