SHOT From The Hip is the nap choice to send bookmakers scurrying for cover in the Mullinavat Novice Hurdle at Gowran Park this afternoon.

HARBINGER’S performance in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes earned him a rating of 135 as he was announced the clear leader in the 2010 World Thoroughbred Rankings, unveiled yesterday.

Harbinger has been crowned as the top performer of 2010 after the World Thoroughbred Rankings were released.

CHAMPION Australian racehorse So You Think has arrived at Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stables in preparation for the new Flat season.

MAKFI, this year’s 2000 Guineas hero, has been retired to stud after suffering a bout of ringworm.

JOHNNY MURTAGH is expecting Makfi to prove a “tough nut to crack” in the Sony-sponsored Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot today.

CANFORD CLIFFS has been ruled out of tomorrow’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot due to a dirty scope.

CASAMENTO has been supplemented for the Juddmonte Beresford Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday.

BOOKMAKERS have unanimously inserted Canford Cliffs as favourite in his defining clash with Makfi in Saturday’s Sony-sponsored Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.

Bookmakers have unanimously inserted Canford Cliffs as favourite in his defining clash with Makfi in Saturday's Sony-sponsored Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.

Paco Boy is set to head to France for Sunday’s Prix du Moulin rather than tackle the Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock 24 hours earlier.

GOLDIKOVA is reported be none the worse after she suffered her first eclipse of the season in the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville earlier this month.

Fame And Glory could clash with stablemate Cape Blanco in the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on September 4.

Connections of Paco Boy blamed the testing Deauville ground for his reverse in yesterday’s Prix Jacques le Marois.

MAKFI gave star milers Goldikova and Paco Boy a shock when scooting to victory in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville yesterday.

Makfi claimed the prized scalps of Goldikova and Paco Boy when springing a surprise in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville.

The Jersey Stakes sets the ball rolling on day two of Royal Ascot and there’s plenty of form in the race which ties in with yesterday’s feature, the St James’ Palace Stakes.

CANFORD Cliffs arrived at Royal Ascot with a score to settle and left at the top of the podium in the three-year-old miling division after proving his worth in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

Richard Hannon dominated the St James’s Palace Stakes as Canford Cliffs finally got the better of his stablemate Dick Turpin.

AS Festival openers go, today’s first day of the Royal Ascot meeting exceeds with regal abandon.

Aidan O'Brien hopes Steinbeck has progressed enough to give Canford Cliffs a race in tomorrow's St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

THE three first three home in the 2000 Guineas are among a nine-strong line-up for the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot tomorrow.

OLIVIER Peslier is set to pick up an incredible spare ride aboard Makfi in next week’s St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, with his usual jockey Christophe Lemaire retained for Siyouni.

CONNECTIONS of Canford Cliffs believe he is unlikely to be inconvenienced by going round a bend for the first time in Ascot’s St James’s Palace Stakes next week.

THE absence of St Nicholas Abbey takes some of the intrigue from today’s Investec Epsom Derby but, for all that the Ballydoyle team will miss the horse they believed ‘could walk on water’, the stable dominated the major trials and appears to hold all the aces today.

ST NICHOLAS ABBEY, as expected, will miss next Saturday’s Investec Derby at Epsom.

Makfi “knows he is a racehorse now” as he prepares for a mouthwatering rematch with Canford Cliffs and Dick Turpin in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.

RICHARD HUGHES is relishing the prospect of Canford Cliffs again waging war with Makfi at Royal Ascot.

CANFORD CLIFFS, despite obvious worries regarding his abilty to truly stay a stiff mile, gets the vote in the Abu Dhabi Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh this afternoon.

TWO weeks to the Epsom Derby and the mystery continues.

ST NICHOLAS ABBEY remains on course for a tilt at the Investec Derby despite being beaten into sixth in the StanJames.com 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

French raider Makfi ran out a shock winner of the StanJames.com 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

KIEREN Fallon believes St Nicholas Abbey will have to be a “freak” if he is to make a winning return to action in the StanJames.com 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.

St Nicholas Abbey remains among 22 confirmations for the StanJames.com 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.

Makfi could earn a start in the stanjames.com 2000 Guineas if he distinguishes himself in next month’s Prix Djebel.