Lightning Moon and Music Master head to Ascot

Ed Walker is looking forward to getting Lightning Moon back on the track in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The four-year-old made his seasonal reappearance when seventh in the Duke Of York Stakes, but he's on course to try and regain the winning thread at the Royal meeting.

"He’s in great shape," Walker told At The Races.  "I'm really excited about him. I’m just training him for Ascot and hoping we get a bit of luck with the ground. He wouldn’t be running at Ascot if it was as quick as it was last year.

"He’ll go for the Diamond Jubilee. He needs that real stiff six. Over the six at York it all just happened too quick for him. You just saw he got caught that little bit for speed. He’ll probably want seven furlongs at the end of the season.

"Something like the Foret, the Maurice De Gheest, those are his sort of races hopefully. I’m really excited about him and looking forward to getting him back on track."

Another sprinter that will be bidding to bounce back in Berkshire is Music Master, who was a disappointing last in the Achilles Stakes at Haydock on Saturday.

The son of Piccolo was fourth in last year's Diamond Jubilee and will be aiming to improve on that effort despite his Haydock defeat, for which trainer Henry Candy blames a different type of bit in his mouth.

Candy explained: "I’ve tried him in a tongue-tie in the past and he hated that. I put a particular type of bit in his mouth this time which has got a sort of port on it to keep his tongue in place. He’d been working really well in it. He kicked Dinkum Diamond out of the way the other day and I thought he’d run really, really well.

"For some reason it just didn’t go right in the race and he finished distressed as if he hadn’t been getting enough oxygen. I will not run him in that bit again.

"It was a mistake. I literally said to the guy who gave him his breeze the day before ‘Are you sure he’s happy in that bit?’ and he said ‘Happy as a lie’ , but in the race something went wrong. So just ignore it.

"Music Master will have a go at the Jubilee again. He was unlucky in it last year."