Ulysses to sizzle

- AS the country basks in sweltering heat ULYSSES can sizzle home in Royal Ascot’s Day Two feature, the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.

You have to look as far back as Hard Fought in 1981 for the only time Sir Michael Stoute captured this crown jewel of the week but in Ulysses that trainer has a fast improver who might just have all the bases covered.

This impeccably-bred son of Galileo and Investec Oaks heroine Light Shift was too babyish to do himself justice in last year’s Investec Derby, but his frame finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at the end of 2016 signalled there could be better to come.

That theory was borne out when the Niarchos Familyowned colt bolted up in a Sandown Group 2 on his 2017 reappearance.

He has delighted Stoute and Ryan Moore in his subsequent work, but the latter is contractually required to partner Highland Reel here.

BOSSY GUEST has been beset with bad luck this year, looking unlucky in both the Newbury Spring Cup and the Victoria Cup at this venue.

Good enough to finish fourth in the 2015 2000 Guineas, the gelding appears to have put some training issues behind him and goes to post with champion jockey Silvestre De Sousa in the plate.

Granted racing real estate in the final 200m, I fancy this combination to swoop to conquer with an Eachway proviso about the Mick Channon-trained five-yearold a sensible ploy.

History could repeat itself in the Group 3 Queen Mary Stakes in which FORMIDABLE KITT can follow in the hoofprints of her dam Ceiling Kitty, winner of the same contest for trainer Tom Dascombe in 2012.

She looked to have similar speed to burn when impressively scoring on her debut at Newmarket and has been targeted at this race ever since.