LAST year's Derby winner Desert Crown has been sensationally ruled out of Royal Ascot.
The news comes just four days after he was subject to an enormous gamble following a stellar piece of work on the Newmarket gallops.
Trained by Royal Ascot's leading trainer Sir Michael Stoute, he halved in price into favouritism after burning up the turf under Ryan Moore.
Everything looked to be falling in place and connections were so confident, they called up Frankie Dettori for the "bombproof" star.
Cruelly, both for connections and those who followed the money, Desert Crown was ruled out on Sunday after a minor setback.
Stoute's assistant trainer James Savage told Racing Post: "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."
Owner Saeed Suhail's racing manager Bruce Raymond added: "I know they weren't happy with him after he worked nicely on Saturday morning. He came back a bit sore."
As a result, bookmakers have made Adayar and Luxembourg joint-favourites at the top of the market.
Desert Crown stormed to Derby success last May on just his third career start but suffered a setback that ruled him out for the rest of the year.
He returned last month, finishing second to the smart Hukum in the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard at Sandown.
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With Royal Ascot now out of the equation, the four-year-old has three future entries in his diary.
Those include the Coral-Eclipse on July 8, the Irish Champion Stakes on September 9 and the Prix De L'Arc de Triomphe on October 1.
The most likely option might be the Irish Champion Stakes, with Sandown's feature Coral-Eclipse coming just two weeks after Royal Ascot.
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