by Tony Smurthwaite

Dual classic winner Cockney Rebel will face seven challengers as he tries to cement his new-found status as the best three-year-old miler in Europe with a win in the St. James's Palace Stakes (Eng-G1) on the opening day of the Royal Ascot meeting on Tuesday.

After wins in the Stan James Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) on May 5 and the Boylesports Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1) on May 26, the Val Royal (Fr) colt trained in Newmarket by Geoff Huffer heads into the one-mile contest with a $20-million offer on the table from an undisclosed bidder, according to connections headed by owner Phil Cunningham.

Cockney Rebel's work since winning in Ireland has been as exhilarating as before, in the view of Newmarket workwatchers. Huffer, whose small string has supplied just one other victory in 2007, is equally pleased with preparations.

British bookmakers rate Cockney Rebel as short as a 5-to-4 favorite to win. Second place in the market is reserved for the colt who caught the eye as a fast-finishing third in the Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket, Dutch Art, from the yard of Peter Chapple-Hyam and therefore stablemate of Authorized, winner of the Vodafone Epsom Derby (Eng-G1) on June 2.

Three of the seven challengers to Cockney Rebel are trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien. They include Astronomer Royal, winner of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains (Fr-G1) (French Two Thousand Guineas), and Excellent Art, who closed rapidly to finish fourth in the French Two Thousand Guineas after a troubled run. The third member of the Ballydoyle trio is Duke of Marmalade, who is looking to improve on fourth-place finishes behind Cockney Rebel at both Newmarket and the Curragh.

Second and third from the Curragh—Creachadoir and He's A Decoy—also will run, while the field is completed by one who missed the spring classics. Jack Junior, the mount of Frankie Dettori, was last spotted when a distant second to Asiatic Boy in the S & M al Naboodah Group United Arab Emirates Derby (UAE-G2) at Nad Al Sheba racecourse on March 31 for trainer Brian Meehan.

Tony Smurthwaite is a Europe-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent