MARCUS ARMYTAGE reports in the LONDON TELEGRAPH that Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien is caution about over-hyping his horses until they have proved it on the racecourse these days.

However his advice, back in May, to Johnny Murtagh that he should go out to ride Australian import Starspangledbanner equipped with a ‘seat belt and parachute’ proved sagacious after the four-year-old led from start to finish in Saturday’s Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

AFTER a miserable week thus far at Royal Ascot, the all-powerful Aidan O’Brien stable will have to rely on former Australian sprinter Starspangledbanner to restore some prestige in Saturday night’s (AET) Group 1 $A780,000 Golden Jubilee Stakes (1200m).

Now racing in the colours of Coolmore Stud after changing hands for $A10 million, this season’s Caulfield Guineas and Oakleigh Plate winner is one of the stable’s few remaining chances of Group 1 success at the famous UK carnival.

INTERNATIONAL trail-blazer Dermot Weld has unearthed another contender for this year’s historic 150th Emirates Melbourne Cup following last night’s (AET) win of Rite Of Passage in the prestigious Ascot Gold Cup (4000m) at Royal Ascot, UK.

“I suppose we’ll have to take him to Melbourne now,” Weld said immediately after the six-year-old delivered his first success in England’s most famous staying race.

THE Australian challenge at Royal Ascot in the UK got off to a disappointing start last night (AET) with Nicconi and Gold Trail finishing unplaced in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m).

Australia’s expected flag bearer in the second leg of the Global Sprint Challenge (GSC), Nicconi, made ground to finish fourth without ever looking a winning hope, while Gold Trail was always struggling and beat only two runners home.

THE sixth leg of the Tatts Cox Plate WFA Global Championship is to take place on Wednesday 16 June at Royal Ascot with the running of the Group 1 Prince of Wales Stakes over 2000 metres.

Presvis returns to English soil after a long and ultimately frustrating global campaign, only highlighted by victory in the Group 2 Jebel Hatta at Meydan. Presvis will start an unaccustomed fourth favourite in the market  (8/1), returning to Royal Ascot with Kieren Fallon aboard.

THE smallest field in recent history will tackle the second leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, the $A520,000 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m), at Royal Ascot, UK on Tuesday night (AET).

When final payments were taken overnight only 12 horses remained in contention for the Group 1 sprint, with Nicconi and Gold Trail chasing Australia’s fourth win in five years.

IT'S all systems go for next week’s Royal Ascot meeting in the UK after the final preliminaries for most of the overseas contenders on the famous Newmarket heath.

Royal Ascot hosts the second and third legs of the rich Global Sprint Challenge and Australian hopes Nicconi, Gold Trail and Alverta were among several visiting horses to take advantage of the marvellous training conditions at Newmarket.

JOCKEY Calvin Borel guided Super Saver through the mud to win the the 136th Kentucky Derby at the weekend, to give trainer Todd Pletcher his first Derby win after 24 fruitless attempts.

Courtesy of the New York Times, here’s how sportswriter Joe Drape captured the magic of the race that stops the nation of America.

ONE of Europe’s premium Group 1 races, the Prix de Ganay will be run at the home of French racing, Longchamp Racecourse on Sunday.

The challenging 2100m journey will not only showcase some of world’s best gallopers but will produce the third leg winner of the Tatts Cox Plate WFA Global Championship.

ON May 1 the first date of the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing in the United States will begin, and the Kentucky Derby odds favor the two major candidates, the colt Eskendereya and Sidneys Candy.

Eskendereya is emerging as one of the favorites for winning this year's edition of the Kentucky Derby, which will be held at Churchill Downs.