THE BREEDERS' Cup does it all in one day with eight Grade One championship races decided in the space of five hours but when it comes to Royal Ascot, it's six Group One events sandwiched within a 30-race programme over five days, meaning a more leisurely approach and a more enjoyable experience altogether.

When it comes to racing on the level, it doesn't get much better than the fare on offer this week. World-class sprinting at both five and six furlongs are mixed with the cream of European milers, middle-distance horses and stayers, with the whole thing baked in the kind of pomp and ceremony only this country can produce.

Both Newmarket Guineas winners will be there, with Cockney Rebel and Finsceal Beo putting their reputations on the line all over again in the St James' Palace Stakes and the Coronation Stakes, respectively, with both starting favourite.

Cockney Rebel could find the Newmarket third, Dutch Art and The Curragh second Creachadoir totally different propositions on a round track with little draw bias on Tuesday, while on Friday, Finsceal Beo faces tough French and German opposition as well as fellow Irish raider Arch Swing in a bid for her fourth Group One success from five attempts in eight months.

With respect to Cockney Rebel though, the major focus of attention on Tuesday will be the one-time unthinkable return to the racecourse of last year's 2000 Guineas winner George Washington in the Queen Anne Stakes.

A failure at stud, Gorgeous George has been re-trained as a racehorse and asked to prove himself for a second time. However, with future stallion duties not ruled out, a public flop on the track would be even worse than his private flopping in the breeding sheds.

poetry in motion THURSDAY'S Gold Cup has benefited from something of a re-birth in recent years after decades of speculation that the race was too long for modern breeders. After surviving a short-lived transfer to York two years ago along with the rest of the meeting due to Ascot's rebuilding, the race has resumed its place as the centrepiece of the five days.

Racing thoroughbreds over two-and-a-half miles without fences or hurdles in the way may have little breeding logic but in the world of blink and you miss it Flat racing it's a jewel in the crown and once again this year it promises to be a race to savour.

The legendary Sagaro remains the only horse to have won the race three times (1975-1977), although the emergence last season of the Sadler's Wells horse Yeats as a stayer of some note has raised the possibility that the Francois Boutin-trained horse's record may yet be challenged.

There are plenty of worthy pretenders to Yeats' crown of course, notably the popular former handicapper, Sergeant Cecil, but in the past 20 years, only Mr Dinos in 2003, before becoming injury plagued, has made winning this race look easier than the Ballydoyle horse did last June.

A second victory for Aidan O'Brien's six-year-old on Thursday would surely lead to a hat-trick attempt and while racing a future stallion as a seven-year-old would not normally be company policy, the thought of allowing Yeats a chance to go one better than Le Moss, Ardross, Gildoran, Sadeem, Drum Taps, Kayf Tara and Royal Rebel (all dual winners in the past 30 years) would surely put stud profits on hold.

trailblazing IT'S great to see Ian Semple having a crack at the Coventry on Tuesday with unbeaten dual winner Burnwynd Boy, especially after the Carluke handler just failed to make a rare tartan indentation in Royal Ascot history when Appalachian Trail went down by a neck in last season's Buckingham Palace Stakes.

Despite the annual heroics of Middleham-based Scot Mark Johnston, Royal Ascot winners trained north of Hadrian's Wall are difficult to trace, the performance of George Boyd's Rexequus in finishing second in the 1959 Queen Anne Stakes a standout until Appalachian Trail's more recent effort.

Appalachian Trail could go for the same race again on Friday but he also has an entry in the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes on Saturday, a race in which, on form, he has about 10lbs to find with the principals.

However, having already made history by becoming the first horse trained in Scotland to win outside the British Isles when scoring at Dubai's Nad Al Sheba track in February, who is to say he can't step up and make further history at a track he clearly loves. That is, of course, unless his stable-mate Burnwynd Boy has beaten him to it on Tuesday.

AUSSIE TAKEOVER THE Americans haven't quite got it yet but the Australians are becoming pretty familiar with what it takes to win a big race at Royal Ascot and Wallaby speedsters Choisir and Takeover Target have shown there's more to life than the Melbourne Cup with three successes between them in the past four years.

Miss Andretti, Bentley Biscuit and Magnus join last year's Golden Jubilee Stakes winner, Takeover Target, in a four-pronged attack on the meeting's top two sprints and while you can read the thoughts of Miss Andretti's handler Lee Freedman opposite, I've been sounding out my man in Wagga Wagga.

The bold boy insists Miss Andretti will see off Takeover Target in the King's Stand and that Bentley Biscuit is the one for Saturday's Golden Jubilee. With all four rated better than Choisir was, punters down under are readying themselves to cash in on the latest pommy bashing.

You have been warned.