James Fanshawe remains hopeful that Kind Of Blue can retain his crown when he bids for a second successive victory in the Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot on Saturday.

Owned by powerhouses Wathnan Racing, Kind Of Blue showed a willing attitude to land the spoils in the Ascot finale twelve months ago and he looked set for a big season in 2025.

Things haven't exactly gone to plan since, with the son of Blue Point missing the break on his reappearance in France before only managing to beat one home in the Group 3 Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle the following month.

However, he's since bounced back to form with excellent third and second place finishes in the Phoenix Sprint Stakes and Sprint Cup at Haydock, leaving connections confident he can put up a bold bid in defence of his crown.

"He seems in good form," said Fanshawe on Sky Sports Racing. "We were really pleased with his run at Haydock, and he's come out of that race well so we're looking forward to Saturday,"

"He's got some good form on quicker ground. They broke the track record in the Sprint Cup at Haydock last time, but he goes on soft ground when the other ones don't. He goes on any ground, but soft ground at Ascot suits some horses better than others and it definitely suits him.

"He's run well at the track, and I hope the ground won't be too much of a problem. We are getting some heavy dews at night, so hopefully it won't dry out too much.

"Things didn't go so smoothly for him at the start of the season. We were hoping to get to Ascot, and nothing went right for him, but he ran really well at the Curragh, his last race was really encouraging and hopefully he's come on again.

"If you've got something good to run at this meeting it's fantastic. In many ways it's good it's being run on good ground this year as there's some very exciting races there and it rewards Qipco's sponsorship."