It is a rare occurrence to see an 8-year old winner at Royal Ascot; it is even rarer to see 2 of them. Nature Strip thrashed all pretenders to ascertain himself as the best sprinter in the world on Tuesday. Another veteran Stradivarius, will try to put the younger brigade to the sword by winning the Gold Cup for the 4th time to equal the great Yeats.
His 2 main rivals will be Trueshan and Kyprios. The former is the true king of the staying division but only when the underfoot conditions are on the softish side. The fact that the ground will be good to firm on Thursday means that he will probably not run at all. So, one down for Stradivarius. Kyprios is very possibly the up and coming stayer from the young generation. His pedigree is impeccable with Galileo as sire and a top-class Danehill mare as dam. He has relatively low mileage for a 4-year old and his last win in a Group 3 of over 14 lengths was visually impressive although it was in a 4-runner field. I am not sure he's ready for the punishing Gold Cup distance at this time of his career but if he takes it like duck on water, his younger legs might prove too much for Stradivarius. The latter will run his race and it is only a matter of whether Kyprios can take the mantle away from him. It's a toss-up really between the two although the public favours will certainly be going to the 8-year old; the roof will come time big time should he win.
Forecast: Kyprios/Stradivarius
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