Kieran Shoemark 'massively impressed' by unbeaten St James's Palace mount as clash with Guineas winners awaits

Kieran Shoemark is relishing the chance to make his presence felt in Group 1 company at Royal Ascot and believes the unbeaten Cicero’s Gift deserves a crack at Guineas winners Chaldean and Paddington in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

The Charlie Hills-trained three-year-old heads to the meeting with a 3-3 record, backing up novice wins at Newbury and Wolverhampton with a five-and-a-half-length success in a conditions stakes at Goodwood last month.

Nassau heroine Lady Bowthorpe and Prix d’Ispahan and Prix du Moulin scorer Dreamloper have been Shoemark’s top-level winners but the jockey feels he has never ridden a three-year-old like Cicero’s Gift – particularly in his transformation from the gallops to the racecourse.