Royal Ascot: Los Angeles out to confirm class for Aidan O’Brien in showdown with old foe Anmaat

Aidan O’Brien’s top older horse, Los Angeles, goes into Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes facing his own Royal Ascot fashion challenge.

The son of Camelot is a Classic winner and an unbeaten Group One winning two-year-old. This season, he has already secured more Group One glory.

It is this contest, however, that shapes as potentially even more career-defining for the wonderfully imposing Los Angeles in terms of commercial bloodstock fashion.

His Classic victory was in last year’s Irish Derby at 1½ miles. His top-flight juvenile victory was in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud at 1¼ miles in a bog. Los Angeles was also third in last year’s Arc. It is a profile that makes for a hard sell in the stallion business.

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Royal Ascot: Los Angeles out to confirm class for Aidan O’Brien in showdown with old foe Anmaat

Even last month’s Tattersalls Gold Cup victory at the Curragh came with question marks. Los Angeles looked, to some, like a race-fit grinder that outstayed the English gelding Anmaat.

But 1¼ miles on quick ground at Royal Ascot is a chance for an admirable top-class horse to prove his credentials as one of the best and most valuable talents in Europe.

Anmaat takes him on again, aiming to bridge the half-length gap from the Curragh, while the unknown factor is the filly See The Fire, supplemented after a deeply impressive rout at York last time.

France’s Map Of Stars is another good horse likely to be in Los Angeles’s slipstream and hoping to quicken past up the short Ascot straight.

Managing that is easier said than done. Los Angeles stays but he’s also got quality and attitude. Anmaat looked to briefly head him in the Tattersalls and his rival reacted as if insulted. There was just half a length in it, but it ultimately looked a commanding margin.

“He’s a big four-year-old colt and he knows how big he is – he’d be very happy to walk over you rather than walk around you,” O’Brien joked earlier this year. “No horse likes a fight better than him.”

Even after huge success in this season’s Classics to date, O’Brien has indicated that future top middle-distance deployments this season may revolve around Los Angeles.

The King George and then another tilt at the Arc have been on his agenda since the start of the season. But in the here and now, a 10-furlong Royal Ascot success may prove just as crucial to the colt’s long-term value.

A major obstacle to all the Irish hopes, however, may prove to be the French runner Asmarani

If Wednesday’s action starts with a trio of Group Two prizes, there is no shortage of Group One performers in them.

A pair of Classic winners line up for the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes and neither is likely to start favourite. Last year’s Newmarket 1,000 Guineas winner, Elmalka, was well behind Cinderella’s Dream at Newmarket last month and the latter tops betting lists for Godolphin.

Fallen Angel won last year’s Irish 1,000 Guineas, after which she was a big-money purchase by the Wathnan ownership. She has failed to win in three starts since and hung on her first start of this term when sixth in the Lockinge. Not surprisingly, she sports first-time cheekpieces now.

Paddy Twomey runs One Look in the Duke Of Cambridge and the Co Tipperary-based trainer could enjoy a memorable day.

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He runs Rogue Legend in the concluding Windsor Castle Stakes and the Cork and Tipperary winner should be one of the leading contenders. The Ballydoyle team run Kansas, who has been behind stable companions on his three starts to date while Nuevo Slovo goes for Curragh-based John O’Donoghue.

It looks a typically competitive 24-runner heat and betting value may be had by siding with Utmost Respect. Richard Fahey’s runner enjoyed no luck at all on his York debut a month ago when eventually finishing runner-up.

Twomey runs the unbeaten Carmers in the Queen’s Vase where Ryan Moore has picked Shackleton over Scandinavia. Carmers made rapid progress from breaking his maiden at Ballinrobe last month to landing the Yeats Stakes at Navan just over a week later.

O’Brien has won the Vase on eight occasions including a year ago with Thursday’s big Gold Cup hope Illinois. A major obstacle to all the Irish hopes, however, may prove to be the French runner Asmarani now that he faces easily the fastest surface he’s tackled to date.

True Love is among three Irish hopefuls for the opening Queen Mary where Karl Burke’s Zelaina boasts a big reputation that could see her start at a very short price. Course-and-distance winner Society Kiss looks a value alternative.