Native hunting Jubilee double

After an unsuccessful stint at stud, Kingsgate Native returns to the scene of his greatest triumph in the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot tomorrow.

The Mujadil colt won the Nunthorpe Stakes at York as a juvenile and proved that effort to be no fluke when claiming this Group One heat 12 months ago in hugely impressive style.

After two more sterling displays at the highest level for trainer John Best, the colt was packed off to Cheveley Park Stud but after failing to get many mares in foal, connections decided to return him to training with Michael Stoute.

Returning a stallion to work is not the easiest of tasks but the Cheveley Park’s racing manager Chris Richardson believes if anything, Kingsgate Native is an even stronger horse this year than he was last.

“It’s disappointing that he failed at stud and we’re obviously hoping the fact that he missed out on his early season preparations as a result of covering mares won’t be a hindrance to him,” said Richardson.

“I think six furlongs is his trip now and we’ll see what happens but he appears have returned to the preparation well.

“Obviously it’s a very tough, international race so we’ll see. Sir Michael has done a fantastic job in getting him here and there are opportunities we can consider in due course depending on how things go.

“From what we’ve seen he still has the old sparkle, but obviously he now has to go and do it on the track. There are some hardened sprinters competing but he’s got the ability and looks great in himself.

“He’s much stronger than he was last year so we just have to keep our fingers crossed.”

Australian speedster Takeover Target will not be taking his chance, however, after being declared a non-runner.

Joe Janiak’s stable star has been a regular at the summer showpiece meeting for the last few seasons but a temperature has ruled him out for this year.