There are trainers who are hot – and trainers who are red-hot.
Then there is Jean-Claude Rouget.
The Pau-based handler has taken French racing by storm this season with victories in three of their four Classics and Stacelita also burst into prominence for the Arc with a facile victory in the Oaks at Chantill
y on Sunday.
Rouget is no 'Johnny come lately' as he has trained over 4,000 winners, mainly around the provincial tracks of which there are hundreds.
He has sent some useful runners to the UK in the past, including 2007 Champion Stakes winner Literato and US Ranger, runner-up in the Jersey Stakes the same year before joining Aidan O'Brien.
Never On Sunday is his representative in today's feature race on day two of Royal Ascot, the Prince of Wales's Stakes, and it will be a brave, perhaps even foolhardy, punter who backs against him.
A Group One winner at Longchamp last month, he has his compatriot, the Eric Libaud-trained Vision D'Etat and last year's Derby runner-up Tartan Bearer to beat in what looks like being a classy renewal of the race but his trainer looks in unstoppable form.
Rouget said of the Prix d'Ispahan winner: "He is running at Ascot as the French racing programme doesn't have any races after the Ispahan for Group One winners, specialised over the intermediate distances.
"The Prix Jacques le Marois is after all a race for milers and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud demands a lot of stamina and is run at a date and on a course that have never inspired me.
"The horse is very well. He arrived at Ascot on Monday evening and we are going into the race with confidence.
"All I hope is that the ground is not going to be too fast and that there will be some decent pace."
Jockey Christophe Lemaire is in bullish mood.
"He is a very easy ride and he has a big chance. He's in excellent condition and is improving with each race he runs," he said.
"He won very well in the Prix d'Ispahan and I'm sure he is getting better and better and also more mature. I'm very keen on his chances.
"He won very well at Chantilly on good ground so that is not a problem. If we have a nice pace I am sure he will finish very strongly."
