[NoChanceToDance]

From Racing Post......



OLIVIER PESLIER has been booked to partner Papal Bull in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, quashing speculation Ryan Moore would ride him instead of Ask, who was the subject of a big drift on the betting exchanges.

Papal Bull and Ask swapped positions in the ante-post market on Tuesday, with Papal Bull becoming the shorter-priced of the Sir Michael Stoute-trained duo, while Ask was available at 27-1 on Betfair on Tuesday morning, before coming back to 18-1 at 7.10pm.

Coral halved Papal Bull's odds to 7-1, after claiming to have laid him to lose a six-figure sum in a matter of hours.

“Every shrewdie on our books has been backing Papal Bull today and with Ask drifting like a barge on the exchanges, and with the ground at Ascot riding fast, you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to suspect that Ryan Moore is going to ride Papal Bull, and Ask is going to miss the race,” said Coral spokesman Simon Clare.

However, Gary Patchett, a spokesman for the Papal Bull Syndicate, revealed that Stoute had booked Peslier, while Simon Christian, who represents Ask's owner, Patrick Fahey, said: “Ask is a runner until we know otherwise. If there was something amiss, I'm sure we would have been told.”


Peslier has a fine international major-race pedigree but has yet to win the King George, coming closest when second on Derby winner High-Rise in 1998.

He has had only two rides in Britain for Stoute in the last five seasons but his link-up with Papal Bull has delighted connections.

Patchett added: “When Sir Michael told us who he had booked we were thrilled. We were so excited we made a point of asking Sir Michael that if plans for his other horse changed, we would like things to stay the way they are, and he said he couldn't see that being a problem.”

Confirming riding arrangements, Stoute expressed a hope that the ground is not as firm as it was when Ask finished fifth in the Prince of Wales's Stakes.

He said: “Oliver Peslier will ride Papal Bull and Ryan will ride Ask. Obviously we don't want the ground as firm as it was at Royal Ascot for Ask, although he ran there.

“I'll have to check with Chris Stickels, but we're hoping to run. We'll see what happens later in the week.”