Doyle thriving on rivalry ahead of Royal Ascot return

ONE year after jockey James Doyle came of age with an 891-1 treble at Royal Ascot, the pressure of expectation will be on his shoulders this afternoon when he partners Kingman in the St James’s Palace Stakes – Royal Ascot’s one mile championship race for three-year-old colts.

It is also the latest race in the growing rivalry between Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Kingman and his great rival Night Of Thunder.

Doyle’s mount beat Richard Hannon’s runner emphatically in Newbury’s Greenham Stakes before the tables were reversed in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket when the field split into two groups.

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However, Kingman – who carries the same colours as Frankel – subsequently overcame heavy ground to win the Irish 2000 Guineas, a first Classic success for Doyle, and connections will be disappointed if their horse is defeated today.

Yet Doyle says he is relishing the rivalry and the chance to compete in the prestigious Group One races after agreeing to become Abdullah’s retained rider shortly after York’s Ebor meeting last autumn.

The appointment took many racing observers by surprise – it means, for example, Kingman being ridden by Doyle rather than John Gosden’s stable jockey William Buick who has been forging an eyecatching alliance of his own with Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation in recent weeks.

Yet Doyle, who threatened to train as a plumber if he did not get better rides, is revelling in the responsibility of his new role – and the rivalry with Night Of Thunder.

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“The rivalry’s good for racing, isn’t it?” Doyle said enthusiastically. “They beat us at Newmarket, and we’re seeking revenge. Hopefully it’ll be a good race, and a fair race, and it all goes to plan.

“It was a bit of cat and mouse at Newmarket, a bit frustrating and yes, a bit annoying, but what can you do? I think Teddy Grimthorpe (Abdullah’s racing manager) put it best after the race when he said that worse things will happen to us this season than finishing second in a Classic.”

Typically, Doyle is reluctant to dwell on the past when asked to reflect on his headline-grabbing treble aboard his mentor Roger Charlton’s Al Kazeem in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes before Belgian Bill pounced in the Royal Hunt Cup and Rizeena obliged in the Queen Mary.

“I think last year was obviously a massive help,” he added. “I got a good bit of publicity for it, and I think that might have helped bring me more success.

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“Probably it also helped make more people aware of me – before then I don’t think Joe Public knew who I was.”

Of his other rides, Abseil has scraped into tomorrow’s Royal Hunt Cup field while Lingfield Derby Trial winner Snow Sky is set to line up in Friday’s King Edward VII Stakes after bypassing Epsom.