Options open for Aqwaal

Ed Dunlop has confirmed Aqwaal will race at Royal Ascot - although a decision has yet to be made about which race.

The talented three-year-old won the London Gold Cup at Newbury last time out, seeing him raised 9lbs to a mark of 94 as a result.

Aqwaal now has a number of options open to him at Ascot, including a possible step up in class for the King Edward VII Stakes.

"All being well you'll see him at Ascot but the King Edward VII is not his only option," said Dunlop.

"He has a number of other options such as the King George V Handicap and the Hampton Court Stakes.

"We're pleased with him, he's had a little break since Newbury and we said after that we'd take him straight to Ascot.

"It's so far so good, we'll start him back in some faster work but keep our options open as Sheikh Hamdan (Al Maktoum, owner) has various horses for various races and we'll chat it over with him and Angus Gold (racing manager) and see what they would like to do. At the moment he's an intended participant.

"I hope he'll stay a mile and a half and he may be running over that trip in his next race if we choose the King Edward VII.

"We suspected he was a nice horse pretty early though he was big and backwards last year, even though he was good enough to win a maiden on his third start.

"He's just kept on improving and he's a big, scopey horse who will hopefully go forward."