Emotionless has date at Royal Ascot

Emotionless is on course to make a belated return to action at Royal Ascot next month.

Last season’s impressive Champagne Stakes winner was a notable absentee from the QIPCO 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday because Charlie Appleby, his trainer, felt the Shamardal colt needed more time to reach his peak.

The Irish version on May 21 will also be resisted, with the the St James’s Palace Stakes on June 14 now at the top of his agenda. He is generally quoted at 8-1 for the £400,000 feature, which is the fourth race in the Mile category of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

“We are looking to Royal Ascot with him, that’s the plan,” Appleby said. “We’ll give him that bit more time he needs, let him strengthen up and do all the right stuff.”

Appleby’s Royal Ascot team will also include Jungle Cat, who is being targeted at the six-furlong Diamond Jubilee Stakes in preference to the King’s Stand Stakes over the minimum trip.

The Iffraaj colt was beaten a nose by Muhaarar, the subsequent champion sprinter, in the Gimcrack Stakes as a two-year-old and has refound his form this year – running well in Dubai before finishing half a length second to Profitable in the Palace House Stakes on the Guineas card.

Jungle Cat did not enjoy the rub of the green at Headquarters, being isolated up the centre of the track as the field split into two groups.

“It was unfortunate the way the race panned out and they split the way they did,” Appleby said. “William [Buick] had made a decision to come up the centre; in an ideal scenario we’d have been on the outside of one of the groups.

“He still ran a terrific race and proved that he’s maintained that level of ability that he showed during winter, which is pleasing.

“The quicker the ground the better for him and he’s a horse we will have a lot of fun with through the summer. We’ll go to six [at Ascot] and then we’ve got the July Cup a few weeks later.”

Jungle Cat is available at 50-1 for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.