Golden oldie Yeats can join the greats

Yeats can defy both his advancing years and the strong French challenge to equal Sagaro's record of three wins in the Ascot Gold Cup at 3.45 tomorrow.

Johnny Murtagh's mount has been the outstanding stayer on the global stage for the past two years and the seven-year-old still looked in top form when winning on seasonal debut in a Listed event at Navan in April.

Murtagh will be the third different jockey to ride Aidan O'Brien's star stayer in as many Gold Cups, as Kieren Fallon and Mick Kinane did the steering in 2006 and 2007.

But Yeats is a very straightforward mount who possesses both class and stamina in equal measure.

However, only one horse, Drum Taps, has won this Group 1 contest as a seven-year-old since World War II, although relatively few of that age have tried to succeed.

The biggest threat to Yeats's hattrick bid is Andre Fabre's French raider Coastal Path who is unbeaten in all six starts to date, but crucially has never run over further than two miles and with an extra four furlongs to travel here is an unknown quantity.

If this were over two miles the four-year-old would probably be sent off favourite, but this extreme distance may be beyond him.

The best of the Brits could be Geordieland, who finished runner-up 12 months ago, whilst in the middle of a 15-race losing sequence.

Since then Jamie Osborne's stable stalwart has sorted himself out and displayed the right battling qualities which saw him grind out a win in the Yorkshire Cup last time.

Frankie Dettori has a fine record in this race having been successful on four occasions. The Italian'smount, Regal Flush, is useful on his day but has been disappointing in both runs this year butmay find this longer trip more suitable.

Stablemate, Sagara, is an interesting runner having finished third in the Arc, among a string of notable runs last year. This is a first effort beyond one mile five furlongs but, like the selection, as a son of Sadler's Wells, there is every chance that he will stay.

It is understandable that Dettori has overlooked Sagara as he ran such a shocker last time, but Godolphin don't have runners that will embarrass them here, so it's fair to think the mount of Kerrin McEvoy is back to his best form again. Priced at 12-1, he could be decent each-way value.

This racecourse is steeped in sporting heritage and Yeats has an outstanding chance of making his own piece of history by equalling one of the most impressive Ascot records and joining Sagaro as a true Gold Cup legend.