FRENCH trainers accounted for three winners at last year’s Royal Ascot meeting – a total they have surpassed only once, way back in 1960. It is hard to see them completing another treble this time around, though it would be a surprise if they don’t have at least one winner.

The best chance of a French success is in the Gold Cup itself as Vazirabad appears to be better than ever this term at the age of six.

He has been campaigned very carefully by trainer Alain de Royer-Dupré, who has tended to restrict him to six or seven starts per year, and both his third consecutive victory in the Dubai Gold Cup and his Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier triumph were top-class efforts.

He doesn’t like to hit the front too soon but jockey Christophe Soumillon knows him inside out and the stiff finish should allow him to be ultra patient.

One word of warning – de Royer-Dupré is adamant that hot weather does not agree with the Manduro gelding, so if Berkshire experiences a heatwave next week the plug could be pulled on his expedition.

The next best bet for a cross-Channel triumph is Wootton in the St James’s Palace Stakes. After lowering the colours of the subsequent Poule d’Essai des Poulains hero, Olmedo, in the Prix de Fontainebleau, this son of Wootton Bassett had everything go against him in the Poulains, where he pulled much too hard and got trapped wide, yet he still managed to finish within a couple of lengths of his old rival.

Trainer Alex Pantall is convinced that a mile is Wootton’s ideal trip and, in an open year, he may be able to pouch an elusive first British victory in a career that spans back almost four decades.

The other top French candidate is Recoletos in the Queen Anne Stakes. His trainer, Carlos Laffon-Parias, has been admirably honest about having campaigned this Whipper colt over the wrong trip last term. Already this season he has registered two smooth victories over a mile and just beyond and could be good enough for what does not shape like a vintage Queen Anne.

The French challenger in the Coronation Stakes will be the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches runner-up, Coeur De Beaute, trained by Maurico Delcher. She was hamstrung by a high draw that day but may struggle to overcome the Guineas winners, Alpha Centauri and Billesdon Brook.

Delcher also saddles Finsbury Square in the King’s Stand Stakes. A very easy winner of the Group 2 Prix du Gros-Chene on his first start for the yard a fortnight ago, he was an initial entry for this race in April before being scratched by his previous handler, Fabrice Chappet, at the May forfeit stage.

It has cost his owner-breeder, Berend Van Dalfsen, a cool £45,000 to reinstate the entry, and he will need to improve upon even that Gros-Chene performance if he is to justify the decision.

Slightly better prospects are held by City Light, who will represent France in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and could sneak into the frame.

Finally, Matthieu Palussiere saddled Different League to land the Albany Stakes 12 months ago and his two-year-olds have been carrying all before them in France this spring so anything he sends over is worth a second look His entries include Junius Brutus and Rolling King in the Coventry Stakes and Forever In Dreams in the Queen Mary Stakes.