Charles Darwin

Most trainers don't get one Gold Cup legend in their training career, but Aidan O'Brien is already on two and on the look-out for a third as Illinois flies the flag in Thursday's Royal Ascot feature. Tasked with bringing home a 10th renewal, one of last high-class sons of Galileo has an ideal profile having contested the St Leger and won this meeting's G2 Queen's Vase at three. While his predecessor Kyprios took time to show his true class, this colt was among the best of the Classic generation and...

The furore surrounding the changes to the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes shows no signs of abating, but for this year at least the six two-year-old races at Royal Ascot remain much as they've always been, which is beneficial for trends followers studying the data in an attempt to find winners next week. We lost one of the so-called bankers when Albert Einstein, last seen winning the G3 Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh, was ruled out of the meeting due to a sprained joint, but his absence shouldn't detract too...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Sunday's Observations features the return of a 'TDN Rising Star'. 1.30 Naas, Cond, €40,000, 2yo, 5fT CHARLES DARWIN (IRE) (No Nay Never) drops back in trip having put in a TDN Rising Star performance when scoring by 5 1/2 lengths over nearly six at Navan last month. The full-brother...

Any week which included the return of Kyprios (Ire) should be considered a good week indeed. Yes, this time of the year is really all about exciting maiden winners and Classic trials, but any horse who can stick around in the Flat pack for as long as Kyprios has done must be cherished.  Four members of the final crop of his sire Galileo (Ire) have entries in the Derby and/or Irish Derby, but otherwise we will be relying on his older runners, including last year's St Leger one-two Illinois (Ire)...