Battaash can foil speedy Lady Aurelia

Lady Aurelia has been based at York for a fortnight, intriguing early morning dog walkers when, down the ‘back stretch’, she has been attended by cowboys and, occasionally, Frankie Dettori. Come what may she will have plenty of local support in today’s Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (3.35).

For the second year running Wesley Ward’s American filly was one of Royal Ascot’s most impressive winners, beating Profitable by three lengths in the King’s Stand, and there will be a frisson of excitement when, possibly the fastest thing on Turf either side of the Atlantic, she bursts out of the stalls.

But she is only a 5-4 chance and three things may erode her apparent superiority; the ground, the fact her season began to tail off after Ascot last year and, perhaps most significantly, Charlie Hills’s rapidly improving Battaash.

Plenty of people have been banging a drum for Battaash since he broke the track record at Sandown first time out this season and his two wins since, the last in soft ground at Goodwood where he beat Profitable by 2½ lengths, have been by a wide margin in the context of five-furlong sprinting.

Davy Russell will learn at Killarney tomorrow whether he will face any punishment over an alleged incident involving his mount Kings Dolly at Tramore last week. Footage appeared to show the jockey striking the horse at a ‘show’ obstacle.

Following the completion of an investigation by the the Turf Club, the referrals committee will convene at the course.