A change of scenery was all the magic required to turn Wise Eagle from a 0-65 handicapper into an Ascot Gold Cup contender.

Trained by Adam Nicol and owned by six friends in the Seahouses Syndicate, the six-year-old has progressed through the ranks since being bought for 7,000 guineas at the 2020 Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale, improving by 40lb.

He has won 11 races since finishing runner-up on his stable debut as a 66-1 chance in Catterick juvenile hurdle and his latest run, when second to Coltrane in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot, has connections dreaming of a fairytale return to the Berkshire track.

Former jockey Nicol, who has just eight horses in his Northumberland yard, insists there was no magic formula for the improvement.

“He has won 11 for us, but when he ran at Yarmouth for Tom Clover, I think he had blinkers. He was going everywhere bar forward and he just looked like he was hating life.

“Tom said when we bought him he wasn’t enjoying Newmarket and a change of scenery would help and get him on the beach.

“We got him here and we didn’t do anything. Didn’t check blood, didn’t even scope him. We just wormed him and then started riding him out.

“What we did do was give him plenty of turn-out. Every day, he gets a minimum of an hour every day, maybe more.

“I feel like even if you give them half an hour, they come in and switch off, because they have been ridden out, had their pick of grass and then they sleep and rest.

“Another thing we don’t do is gallop this horse a lot. We do a lot of steady work. I just think he enjoys it.

“I’m not really putting him under too much pressure. He comes alive at the races and gets that spring in his step. He certainly didn’t look out of place in the Sagaro Stakes, walking around the paddock he looked fantastic. He is a horse enjoying himself.”

Wise Eagle’s victories included the Queen’s Cup at Musselburgh on his seasonal debut and that form was further boosted when Metier, to whom he was conceding 4lb, won the Chester Cup.

“I got some buzz out of the Musselburgh race, beating the likes of Harry Fry and Paul Nicholls in the Queen’s Cup,” said Nicol, a relatively fresh face in the training ranks aged just 33 and who enjoyed memorable days in the saddle with top-class mare Lady Buttons.

Having finished four and three-quarter lengths behind Coltrane in the Sagaro, Nicol hopes the additional half-mile at the Royal meeting will help the son of Free Eagle.

“Some people say he looked like he was only just getting home at Ascot, but you have one turn of foot with this horse.

“Push the button once and he will go for you – he has a hell of a turn of foot. But once he’s used that, he’s done enough and he’ll not come again for you.

“The Sagaro got a bit tactical. I would prefer 10 or 12 runners, where they go a nice, even gallop, which I’m hoping they usually do in a Gold Cup, and then just slot in. Danny (Tudhope) knows him inside out.

“I’m glad we ran him there. We know he handles the track and it was a case of running him in that to know if we were punching a bit, if he was good enough for that level. And I think he is. He definitely deserves a crack.

“I know the owners and Andrew Balding will be going there thinking Coltrane has a great chance, as Wise Eagle has never beaten him, but plenty of horses have reversed the form.

“We’ve already beaten Trueshan and it is an open race.”

Though there was an option of heading to York and then Goodwood, the Wise Eagle’s owners have decided to take their chance at the showpiece meeting instead.

Nicol explained: “There is a mile-and-five Listed race at York. I thought there was a good chance of him winning that and York wouldn’t take as much out of him, and then we’d go to the Goodwood Cup.

“But the lads felt that you don’t forgo perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime chance of even placing in the Gold Cup, plus the prize-money is fantastic.

“I do think that the level he is running at, should he go and run a blinder again in the Gold Cup, I think maybe abroad there are winnable races. They are not going to be any better than the Gold Cup or the Sagaro, so we will think about that.”

Nicol is still pinching himself about the horse who has come from humble beginnings to be a flagship for his burgeoning yard and he hopes the journey will continue a while yet.

“This lad cost 7,000 guineas. We went down to Tattersalls during Covid, there was nobody really there,” he said.

“In normal circumstances, he would have been at least 15 or 20 grand. He was a winner over a mile, he was only three, not badly bred – and I just think, because of Covid, we were lucky to get him.

“His first win for us was in a jumpers’ bumper, and we have gone from running in a 0-65 at Catterick to running in the Ascot Gold Cup. It doesn’t happen very often, does it?

“It’s almost as good a story as the Dream Alliance film. Everyone likes the underdog to run well and we go there with no pressure.

“The owners want to have a day out. Half of them haven’t had a horse before. They are first-time owners.

“I think they think the game’s easy; buy a horse and make money. They haven’t had to pay a bill yet – the prize-money has paid for it all.”

All that is needed is a Hollywood-style ending, as was the case when unheralded chaser Dream Alliance rose from being reared on an allotment in South Wales to winning the Welsh National.

“Having a chance to have a horse good enough to run and be competitive doesn’t come along often,” added Nicol.

“We have one bullet to have a go – and it’s a good one – so we’ll have a good crack.”

Roger Varian will use Friday’s Boodles Yorkshire Cup as a stepping stone for Eldar Eldarov’s Ascot Gold Cup bid.

Last season’s St Leger winner takes on six rivals in the Group Two contest as he bids to bounce back from a sub-par run in his sole start since, when beating just one rival home in Ascot’s Long Distance Cup.

He won the Queen’s Vase and the Doncaster Classic in both starts over a mile and three-quarters, and returns to that trip on the Knavesmire.

“He’s really doing well of late and has obviously been very good at both tries over this distance,” said Varian.

“We do see him being very effective when he races over Cup distances, but I think a mile and six furlongs is a good distance to start his season off at, and we hope he runs a good, solid race on Friday that means we can then take aim at the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.

“We’ve got to see how he runs, but we would love to see a positive performance, win or lose. It looks a strong race, but he’s a horse we are looking forward to running and hopefully he can come out of the race giving us the collective opinion he can be a Gold Cup horse.”

In an interesting renewal, 2021 Ebor runner-up Quickthorn returns to the scene of last season’s 14-length Lonsdale Cup success for Hughie Morrison.

His trainer is hoping he can start to garner the plaudits he feels the Nathaniel gelding deserves, with Oisin Murphy retaining the ride as regular partner Tom Marquand is unavailable.

“It was a Flightline-type performance, but he didn’t get the Flightline-type recognition,” said Morrison.

“It might have been a once-in-a-lifetime performance, but I do think it was exceptional, and the disappointment was that neither Stradivarius nor Trueshan ran that day, because we’d have got the credit then.

“Coltrane obviously didn’t run to his best, but Quickthorn absolutely dominated him and I think if you look at the sectionals, he went fast all of the way.

“The ground had gone when he went to Longchamp, and it was the same story at Ascot. The year before he’d had enough by October, and I think that was probably a factor again, too.”

Morrison is keen for the habitual front-runner to replicate that form back down in distance after a somewhat disappointing sixth when taken on early in the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan in March.

“As for Dubai, it wasn’t easy getting him out of a field in December to have him ready for a fast-ground race in Dubai that looked like a Group One three months later,” he added ahead of a race that forms part of the Qipco British Champions Series.

“He ran well, but the Godolphin team knew what they were up to and we weren’t going to get an easy ride. My concern is that I might have left my year behind in Dubai, but I’ve been perfectly happy with him at home.

“Tom Marquand couldn’t commit himself, so I made the decision to go for Oisin at the weekend.

“Oisin knows Quickthorn well and rode him in Dubai, as well as when he won twice two years ago, including at Royal Ascot.”

Broome flashed home to win the Dubai Gold Cup for trainer Aidan O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore, beating Godolphin’s reopposing Siskany, who was favourite for the principal staying race on World Cup night.

Siskany was successful at the 2022 Dubai Carnival and third in the Group One Grosser Preis von Bayern in Germany at the end of the season.

The Charlie Appleby-trained five-year-old easily won the Group Three Nad Al Sheba Trophy in February before being nabbed close home by Broome last time.

“Siskany put up a couple of decent performances at Meydan over the winter,” Appleby told www.godolphin.com.

“We felt that the two miles of the Dubai Gold Cup was right at his limit and dropping back to a mile and six furlongs will help. He brings a nice profile into the race and conditions look there to suit, so we are expecting a big run.

Giavellotto, who was promoted to third in the St Leger after being badly hampered two furlongs out, has a bit to find with Broome and Siskany after subsequently finishing ninth in Meydan.

Trainer Marco Botti said: “I felt he was a bit unlucky in the St Leger. He’s a horse with a big stride and he was checked twice. For me he’d have been much closer otherwise.

“His preparation has gone well since Dubai, where things didn’t really pan out for him from a really wide draw and he ended up a bit too far back. It looks quite a competitive race but he stays well and he’s in good form. He’s in good shape and I’m pleased to see that the ground is drying out as I didn’t want to run him on really soft ground.

“He’s not in the Gold Cup, as that trip might stretch him and we don’t see it as the right race for him, but he has plenty of options.”

Last season’s Yorkshire Cup third Tashkhan is the only runner from a year ago to appear again, while Get Shirty completes the line-up.