Dettori cautious ahead of Ascot

Frankie Dettori is “more hopeful than confident” about the form of the Godolphin string going into the showpiece meeting of the year at Royal Ascot.

After shutting up shop for two weeks at the end of May, Saeed bin Suroor sent out Librettist to land a conditions race at Nottingham before Satchem won a Listed contest at Goodwood on Saturday to signal a return to form for the operation.

But despite having a mouth-watering book of rides that includes Dubai World Cup winner Electrocutionist and last season’s Sussex Stakes scorer Proclamation, the in-form Italian is refusing to get carried away.

“The horses are running much better now,” said Dettori.

“We’ve had two runners (since the stable closed) and they have both won, which will give us a lot of confidence.

“We closed the stable for two weeks so they are running two weeks behind the others, so we are more hopeful than confident going into Royal Ascot. We hope that they can redeem themselves at Ascot though,” he told At The Races.

“We have Shawanda, Electrocutionist, Proclamation and Silca’s Sister, they are our main hopes for the meeting and they are all in the top races.”