George Scott believes that Caballo De Mar’s uncharacteristically heavy defeat in the Gold Cup can be forgiven, and he sees his dual Group 1 winner as the race’s safest option at the trip in what looks a particularly strong renewal of the Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup.

While last year’s first two, Trawlerman and Sweet William, are now retired and the brilliant Gold Cup and Goodwood winner Scandinavia was never coming here, a field of nine for the £250,000 Group 2 includes Scandinavia's stable-mate Illinois, a former St Leger second who was more recently the winner of the Queen Alexandra Stakes, and Al Nayyir, who has been placed in the last two runnings of this race.

Also prominent in the betting are Amiloc, who lost his rider at the start of the Goodwood Cup and remains a fascinating prospect at the trip, and Carmers, who was second here last year in the Great Voltigeur and was subsequently a strong fancy for the St Leger. And then there is veteran Quickthorn, who has been absent for nearly two years but was a runaway 14-length winner of this race back in 2022.

Caballo De Mar has to concede them all a 3lb penalty for the more recent of his two Group 1 victories at Longchamp, which came in May’s Prix Vicomtesse Vigier, but Scott isn’t especially concerned about that, pointing out that “he’s earned it” and that he “probably has the best form at the trip.” So what happened at Ascot then?

“Your guess is good as mine,” Scott admits, “but fundamentally I asked Oisin (Murphy) to go forward from an awkward draw in a championship race and he couldn’t get in. He used a lot of gas to get a position, and even passing the post the first time around I was thinking ‘it’s done’. You can't keep pressing forward to get a position in a race like that. You’ve got to get the horse underneath you, but that’s not a criticism of Oisin as it’s down to circumstances and being asked to ride a certain way.

"He ultimately paid the price for chasing such a strong pace, but he was still in the mix in third place with only a furlong to go. A veterinary report said he showed signs of heat stress, but I honestly don’t think that’s relevant. He’d left everything out there.”

The good news is that Caballo De Mar is seemingly in rude health again, although one wouldn’t know that from his work at home, where he shows precious little.

Scott, who enjoyed Group 1 success last weekend with new recruit Wimbledon Hawkeye, says: “Caballo took a bit of time to get over Ascot, so Goodwood was never on the agenda, but in the last two weeks he’s sparked back to life and is training really nicely.”

Caballo De Mar has career earnings now of approaching £700,000 and an official rating of 115, so how did he get beaten four times in handicaps off marks in the mid 60s only two years ago?

“I think the key to him is that he relaxes so well now and he’s able to conserve a lot of energy in his races,” Scott says. “Unusually for a Flat horse, particularly a Newmarket horse, he goes out in the field every day after exercise. He’s a very laid back character at home and not a good work horse, but he loves racing.

“To say his current lead horse is something of a punchbag is probably going too far, but he’s not very good and Caballo finds it easy to beat him, which suits him. I think where I tripped up in the past was working him with horses who were too good.”

Scott describes the Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup as “a great race for the public” and adds: “It’s a great betting race and everyone will have an opinion. We might be missing Scandinavia and Trawlerman, but Caballo De Mar will never race against Scandinavia anyway, I can tell you that.”

None of the others can be ruled out. French Master gave weight and a beating to Caballo De Mar in the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot last year but hasn’t won since, although he went close against Illinois when returning there for the Queen Alexandra Stakes. Mount Atlas is very solid and beat Tabletalk in the Group 3 Silver Cup here last month. 

The former French Group 3 winner Columbus is much harder to assess. He was probably a non stayer when well beaten in the Queen Alexandra and has been a hurdles winner at Galway since. His trainer Willie Mullins is a dual Lonsdale winner, most recently with Vauban two years ago, and he is always to be feared.