Get the latest views from connections ahead of Saturday's six Shergar Cup races, including James Given on Challenge contender Indianapolis.
James Given has high hopes for Indianapolis in the Shergar Cup Challenge at Ascot on Saturday.
A winner in Ireland last season when trained by Aidan O'Brien, the Galileo colt has been running well in defeat since arriving in Britain - most recently finishing fourth in the Old Newton Cup at Haydock.
Given said: "He's been knocking on the door in some good races and he's still a relatively inexperienced horse.
"He only had three runs before we bought him, having been a lead horse at Ballydoyle. I think it's taken a while for him to learn he's not a lead horse any more and we're putting some cheek pieces on him, just to help him concentrate at the business end of the race.
"He ran very well behind Red Verdon at Doncaster earlier in the year and on his last run in the Old Newton Cup, you'd give him a fair chance."
Indianapolis will be ridden by Australian Mark Zahra.
Among the nine horses taking him on are three from Ian Williams' yard in Reshoun (Jamie Spencer), Restorer (Adrie de Vries) and the hat-trick seeking Mandarin (Filip Minarik).
William Haggas is represented by Big Kitten (Yuga Kawada), and said: "Big Kitten is a very solid horse and I would hope he'll run well. This race should be tailor-made for him."
The second race of the afternoon is the Shergar Cup Stayers, in which Pat Chamings runs dual course winner What A Welcome.
The five-year-old returns to action just seven days after running with credit behind the remarkable King's Advice at Goodwood.
"There wasn't a lot of races coming up for him and he's a course and distance winner, so we thought we'd give it a go," said Chamings.
"He didn't have a hard race at Goodwood as he ended up too far back and it just didn't happen for him on the day."
What A Welcome will be ridden by four-times German champion jockey Minarik and faces Mick Channon's Billy Ray (Danny Tudhope) and Andrew Balding's Lorelina (Jamie Kah), among others.
In the Shergar Cup Mile, Nicholas T bids for a fourth win in five starts for Jim Goldie and Jamie Spencer.
Hong Kong-based rider Vincent Ho is on board Marcus Tregoning's Power Of Darkness, who claimed a third career win on his latest outing at Salisbury.
Tregoning said: "We're glad he got in first of all, as we weren't sure he was going to get a run. He's in good form and he's an uncomplicated ride, so hopefully the jockey can get him there to go close or win."
Boerhan heads the weights for the formidable Haggas-Tudhope combination in the Shergar Cup Classic, but the trainer is more hopeful than confident about his chances.
He said: "He's become very disappointing. He has the ability, but he hasn't been running as well as he should have been."
Among the obvious threats are Mark Johnston's trio of Vivid Diamond (Tadhg O'Shea), Sapa Inca (Hayley Turner) and Asian Angel (Jamie Spencer).
Charlie Johnston, assistant to his father, said: "All three have the right to be there. Vivid Diamond finished second over the course and distance a couple of weeks ago and Sapa Inca ran a good race at Goodwood to finish second behind a handicap blot of Roger Varian's (Aktau). If she runs to the same level, she could take a bit of beating.
"Asian Angel ran disappointingly at Goodwood. He was always behind the bridle and never in the race, so hopefully a more conventional track and stepping up to a mile and a half will help him."
The final race of the afternoon is the Shergar Cup Sprint, in which the Haggas-trained Victory Day is likely to be favourite under Spencer.
He makes his first appearance since being touched off in a valuable sprint handicap at York in June.
"He's coming back and he's in good form. Hopefully he'll run a good race," said Haggas.
Mick Appleby expects star sprinter Danzeno to prove hard to beat in the Dubai Duty Free Dash.
The eight-year-old has been in fine form so far this year, with wins at Nottingham and Haydock sandwiching a tremendous effort to finish third in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Danzeno also has a course and distance victory to his credit and with crack French jockey Gerald Mosse taking the ride, hopes are high that he can secure an eighth career success in Saturday's opener.
Appleby also saddles the admirable veteran Caspian Prince, the mount of Japanese ace Yuga Kawada
"Both horses are in good form and they're drawn close to each other, which is good," said the Rutland-based trainer.
"I'm delighted to have Gerald Mosse on Danzeno. He's ridden a few winners for me, so that's very good news.
"I don't know a lot about the other jockey - we'll find out if he speaks Yorkshire or not!
"Hopefully Caspian Prince will jump out and try to make all and Danzeno will take a lead off him.
"I think Danzeno will take a bit of beating."
Danzeno and Caspian Prince feature in a field of 10 runners in the five-furlong contest, with Paul Midgley saddling Final Venture.
The seven-year-old has filled the runner-up spot on each of his three starts this this season and bids to snap a two-year winless streak in the hands of female Australian jockey Jamie Kah.
Midgley said: "He's run three good, solid races this year and seems in great form.
"I always like to support the Shergar Cup as they look after you so well and hopefully this horse has got as good a chance as any.
"It's a tough race and I don't know a lot about the jockey, but I'm sure she'll be fine. All she has to do is point him in the right direction and he'll do the rest."
Archie Watson's recent Pontefract scorer Corinthia Knight (Adrie de Vries), Dean Ivory's Lancelot Du Lac (Hayley Turner) and the Tony Carroll-trained Recon Mission (Tadhg O'Shea) also feature.
The latter landed a competitive sprint handicap at York on his penultimate start before finishing last of 10 runners in the Hackwood Stakes at Newbury three weeks ago.
Carroll said: "We are hoping the rain that is forecast comes as we do need a drop of rain for him.
"We tried him in a Group Three last time, but it was still disappointing as we do hold him highly as he is a very good horse.
"I don't know what went wrong. We did a little MOT and we couldn't find anything wrong, so we have just put it down to something going wrong in the race as he was beaten too far out.
"At York he looked a really tough sort, as he has done in all of his races, and his Newbury run was very much out of character.
"Everything looks good now, though."
