REGAL CAN CELEBRATE
RELY on REGAL REALITY (Goodwood, 3.00) to lord it over his Celebration Mile rivals at Goodwood today.
The Sir Michael Stoutetrained five-year- old hasn’t always realised his latent talent, but the fitting of a visor worked the oracle at Salisbury last time and the figures compilers rated that performance virtually on a par with anything he had previously achieved in a 15-race career.
There is always a worry the headgear won’t work so effectively a second time, but Regal Reality was reported to have moved sweetly in the visor at home prior to his latest win so hopefully they continue to harness his ability and encourage him to use his smart turn of foot. It was that change of gear which readily put the race to bed earlier this month, and although conditions will be markedly different today courtesy of sizeable rainfall, Regal Reality can at least operate with plenty of cut in the ground.
That isn’t necessarily the case for some of his rivals and it’s worth recalling that his father, Intello, won on heavy ground as a juvenile and finished his career with a fine third to Treve in the 2013 Arc when conditions were testing.
The returning Benbatl is the highest rated of the seven runners and boasts a good record fresh so is clearly a major threat if this is a primary objective.
However, connections are surely looking to races like the Irish or English Champion Stakes this autumn with him and he is yet to register a win on ground worse than good to soft in four attempts.
Century Dream could prove a threat if allowed a solo run at the head of affairs and the ground won’t be an inconvenience, but Regal Reality is taken to arrive late on the scene to secure the Group 2 feature.