California Chrome, the 2014 Kentucky Derby winner, could be forced to miss his intended engagement in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday due to a bruised foot.
The four-year-old, who finished fourth when attempting to complete the US Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes last June, has been stabled with Rae Guest in Newmarket before his attempt to beat an international field in the Group One contest, the highlight of the second day.
America’s Daily Racing Form reported on its Twitter feed on Monday evening that Art Sherman, California Chrome’s trainer, is “about sure” that his colt will not make the race, although Sherman added that “we’ll go over him in the morning”.
California Chrome’s foot was being poulticed on Monday evening but he could not be given any medication within 48 hours of Wednesday’s contest.
California Chrome had been expected to be one of the biggest international stars to race at this week’s Royal meeting.
This year’s Royal Ascot is likely to unfold on fast ground throughout the five-day meeting after Chris Stickels, the track’s clerk of the course, confirmed on Monday that he does not expect to water the course until Wednesday evening at the earliest.
The going at Ascot is currently described as good, good to firm in places with no significant rain forecast at any stage this week.
“We watered Sunday, no further watering will take place now, and it will be a mixture of good and good to firm tomorrow,” Stickels said. “I’m not ruling out any watering during the week. It’s unlikely to happen before Wednesday evening, which looks like being quite a hot day.
“It looks decent weather-wise, there’s a slight chance of a shower on Friday. We can expect around 20C tomorrow going up to 23C on Wednesday. I anticipate it getting a bit quicker tomorrow but it’s where we want it to be going into a dry forecast.”
Frankie Dettori, who rode his second Derby winner when Golden Horn took the Epsom Classic earlier this month, is the only jockey being backed against odds-on favourite Ryan Moore to finish as the Royal meeting’s top jockey.
Moore is top-priced at 4-9 with Coral heading into the opening day, with Dettori best at 8-1 with Stan James and Skybet and Richard Hughes on 10-1 with Paddy Power and BetVictor. Moore has a full book of six rides on Tuesday, including Gleneagles, the odds-on favourite for the St James’s Palace Stakes, which Hughes has five mounts and Dettori only four.
Aidan O’Brien, the trainer of Gleneagles, is 5-2 with Coral to be the meeting’s top trainer, and is closely followed in the betting by Richard Hannon and Sir Michael Stoute on 3-1 and 9-2 respectively. John Gosden is a 9-1 chance while American trainer Wesley Ward, who is expected to saddle 10 runners at the meeting, is just 16-1 to beat Europe’s leading names to the award.
