Racing: Trade Fair skips clear of pack to advertise Royal Ascot claims

Trade Fair, the winter favourite for the 2,000 Guineas but sidelined a few days before the Classic, survived the intervention of an errant hound to make a spectacular return to the track here yesterday.

The start of the volatile colt's eagerly awaited comeback contest, the seven-furlong King Charles II Stakes, was delayed by a quarter of an hour because one of the Thurlow Hunt pack, paraded down the course as part of the afternoon's countryside propaganda, went AWOL on the adjacent heath.

"That was the longest 15 minutes of my life," said Trade Fair's trainer, Roger Charlton, after his charge had returned in triumph under Frankie Dettori. "He is decidedly buzzy and we have been devoting ourselves to keeping him relaxed, calming him down. Then that happened.

"But actually, the delay didn't upset him; in fact, Frankie said he was very much on his toes going down, then relaxed when he was walking round waiting."

Khaled Abdullah's son of Zafonic, a magnificent physical specimen, oozed class as he set off in front and quickened two-and-a-half lengths clear when pressed by Membership. Dettori, standing in for the suspended Richard Hughes, was so impressed that he treated the sundrenched crowd to a flying dismount.

"He's not a Group One winner yet, but he may well be, and I probably won't be on him," Dettori said. "He has serious speed and all I had to do was keep hold of the reins, go forward with him and let him enjoy it."

Trade Fair's enforced absence from the Guineas was because of a bout of internal bleeding. "We think he may have burst through tension when he got himself rather stewed up when Richard came down to ride him," Charlton said. "Since then, though, there have been no abnormal scopes. He's now ridden by the same lad every day, David Wells, who gets on so well with him and keeps him in the same routine."

Royal Ascot now beckons for the handsome bay, but possibly not the Group One three-year-old mile showpiece, the St James's Palace Stakes. "Given his tendency to boil over, a race with a parade might not be ideal," Charlton said. "The seven-furlong Jersey Stakes, with a big field and a fast pace, might be the one. But Frankie said that we'll have a July Cup horse for next year."

The one-time Derby entry Sabre D'Argent is heading for Ascot too, after bouncing back to his best form in the day's other Listed contest, the Fairway Stakes, to give Dettori the first of a pair. The Kris S colt was visored first time and backed from 11-2 to 4-1 as the odds-on favourite Tuning Fork, who had been runner-up in the Dante Stakes, drifted alarmingly. The market was right; Sabre D'Argent won the 10-furlong contest by two lengths and Tuning Fork finished last. Either the Hampton Court Stakes, over yesterday's distance, or the King Edward VII Stakes is on the winner's agenda.

With openings for high-class, expensive juveniles becoming increasingly limited in Ireland, Aidan O'Brien is having to send his Royal Ascot contenders to Britain for their test runs, and no two-year-old has impressed more this season than Old Deuteronomy, who rocketed five lengths clear of Divine Gift and his better-fancied Ballydoyle stablemate The Mighty Tiger, in the six-furlong maiden. The bookmakers took note and the Storm Cat colt, named after one of T S Eliot's practical pusses, is their first favourite for next year's Guineas.

Seventeen fillies go forward to Wednesday's final declaration stage for Friday's Oaks, including yesterday's two supplementary entries, Hammiya and Santa Sophia. The penultimate shape of the Derby field will be known tomorrow and, with three colts due to be supplemented, some of the lesser performers may face compulsory elimination to comply with the new safety limit of 20 runners.