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Top fillies in field of eight for Royal Ascot Group One
Star fillies Magical and Sea Of Class are among eight runners declared for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.
Having rounded off her 2018 campaign by pushing Enable all the way in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Magical is three from three this season – completing her hat-trick in last month’s Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh.
O’Brien also saddles possible pacemaker Hunting Horn in a Group One contest he has claimed on three previous occasions – with Duke of Marmalade (2008), So You Think (2012) and Highland Reel (2017) respectively.
The home team features the William Haggas-trained Sea Of Class, who will make her first appearance since only narrowly failing to reel in Enable in a thrilling renewal of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last October.
Sir Michael Stoute’s Crystal Ocean bids for his second Royal Ascot success – having landed last season’s Hardwicke Stakes – and returns at the top of his game following successive wins at Sandown and Newbury this spring. He will be partnered by Frankie Dettori for the first time.
Andre Fabre sends the impressive Prix Ganay winner Waldgeist across the Channel, while Deirdre will carry the hopes of Japan.
Desert Encounter (David Simcock) and Zabeel Prince (Roger Varian) complete the line-up.
