Seven Questions has been supplemented for the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot after delighting trainer George Scott in a Wednesday morning gallop in Newmarket.
A surprise winner of the Palace House Stakes on his seasonal debut, the gelded son of Kodiac proved that effort was no fluke when finishing third in the Group Two Temple Stakes at Haydock last month.
The three-year-old will face an even sterner test when he steps up to Group One level on Tuesday, but after seeing his star sprinter go through his paces on Racecourse Side, connections have decided to stump up the required £46,000 to add him to the King Charles field.
"Seven Questions seems to be improving all the time – we could not be more happy with him," said Scott.
"We were delighted with his work this morning – he showed himself to be in great form. He is a horse who seems to be progressing with every start. So we have decided to push the button on the supplementary entry for the King Charles.
"His form ties in quite nicely with a couple of the main players in the race, but at the same time, we've got to be realistic. You’re not supplementing a 6-4 shot, he’s probably going to be 14-1 or 16-1, but in an open race we feel it’s worth taking a chance.
"The big hurdle for him is to get over the preliminaries, so we’re in the process of organising a pony for him and he’ll go down the night before. He’ll go and have a look at the track and the paddock on the morning of the race. Mentally, that should set him up for the afternoon."
Scott is preparing a small but select team for the Royal meeting, with Isle Of Jura and Prydwen also set for big-race assignments in the Hardwicke Stakes and Gold Cup respectively.
Following a memorable winter hat-trick in Bahrain, Isle Of Jura made a triumphant return to Britain in the Listed Festival Stakes at Goodwood last month and he too underlined his wellbeing with a seven-furlong spin on the Summer Gallop.
Scott added: "Isle of Jura moved very nicely in his work. We have been pleased with him since his win in the Festival Stakes – he has probably come on from that run, which he was entitled to do.
"It looks like 10 furlongs is very much his minimum trip – he wants a mile and a half now. It’s all systems go for the Hardwicke. He pleased Callum [Shepherd] and I this morning, pulling nicely clear of his lead horse and he didn’t blow a candle out afterwards."
Prydwen faces a huge rise in class and a switch to turf in the Gold Cup after winning the Marathon on All-Weather Championships Finals Day at Newcastle and a valuable handicap at Southwell on his two most recent outings.
"For two reasons we feel he has earned his start in the race. Firstly, he has run three career bests in a row. Secondly he’s rated 108 and is kind of in that awkward place where he’s going to carry huge weights in handicaps," said Scott.
"He’s probably a few pounds below what’s required to win at Group level, but he belongs to a great group of people who have owned horses all their lives and the Gold Cup is one of the most prestigious races of them all."
Scott’s Royal Ascot squad also includes Watch My Tracer (Buckingham Palace Handicap), Billy Webster (Palace of Holyrood House Handicap) and Rocket Rodney (Wokingham Handicap).
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