Red Carpet to be rolled out at Royal Ascot

Michael Bell’s smart four-year-old Red Carpet, who missed an intended engagement at York on Thursday, is set to return to action at Royal Ascot.

Red Carpet finished half-a-length second to Warningford in a Group Three contest over seven furlongs at Leicester recently, after which Bell nominated the Duke Of York Stakes as the next race for the son of Pivotal.

But the trainer explained today: ‘‘He was absolutely fine and came out of the Leicester race extremely well and was due to work last Saturday but he wasn’t quite right that was annoying.

‘‘He had two quiet canters this morning and hopefully he’s back on target for the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. That’s the plan.’’