Desert Crown to Skip Royal Ascot Due to Minor Setback

Desert Crown , who was a short-price favorite for this month's Prince of Wales's Stakes (G1), was ruled out of Royal Ascot June 11 after suffering a minor setback.

The 4-year-old was unbeaten in three starts last season for Sir Michael Stoute and justified favoritism when landing the Cazoo Derby (G1) by 2 1/2 lengths under Richard Kingscote.

He was ruled out for the remainder of the year due to a minor injury before making his seasonal reappearance in last month's Brigadier Gerard Stakes (G3) at Sandown, where he finished second behind Hukum .

Following an impressive piece of work June 7, Desert Crown was shortened to clear 2-1 favorite for the Prince of Wales's Stakes, in which he was set to be partnered by Frankie Dettori.

Confirming the news, assistant trainer James Savage said: "Desert Crown trained well on Saturday but met with a minor setback. Royal Ascot is just going to come too soon to get it right."

The son of Nathaniel  is owned by Saeed Suhail, whose racing manager Bruce Raymond said: "I know they weren't happy with him after he worked nicely on Saturday morning. He came back a bit sore."

Coral made the well-backed Desert Crown the 7-4 favorite for the June 21 Prince of Wales's Stakes but he has been replaced at the head of the market by 2-1 joint favorites Adayar  and Luxembourg .