MIRAGE DANCER is the latest son of Frankel to go under the Classic microscope as he lines up in the Homeserve Dee Stakes, one of the feature events on the final day of Chester's May Festival.

Trainer Sir Michael Stoute used this Listed heat as a prep for subsequent Epsom hero Kris King back in 2003 and while Mirage Dancer has a way to go before hitting those kind of heights, he is certainly bred to be making his mark at this level at least.

His sire was an undoubted star but the distaff side of his pedigree also represents the cream of the crop as he is a son of Heat Haze, a dual Group One winner and part of the famous Hasili dynasty, with Dansili and Banks Hill just two of her famous siblings.

Mirage Dancer looked the part on his racecourse debut at Doncaster last autumn, getting going late with five subsequent winners finishing in behind as the Freemason Lodge representative came home half a length clear despite his evident inexperience.

Stoute also had the option of next week's Dante at York, so you can only assume he believes this race to be the better option on the way to bigger things in time. Oisin Murphy has today's ride.

EL HAYEM should also be on the mark for the Stoute team in the opening Crabbie's Earl Grosvenor Handicap, which sees Andrea Atzeni take the reins.

Winner of one of his four starts last term, El Hayem ran a promising race when beaten less than two lengths on his return in the Spring Cup at Newbury last month.

Having his first run since last July, El Hayem would be expected to make plenty of progress for the outing and his current mark of 90 gives Stoute a bit to work with in due course.

Nap selection WINNING STORY can add another feather to his cap by landing a first Pattern-race success in the Boodles Diamond Ormonde Stakes.

The four-year-old will be taking a bit of a leap in class for trainer Saeed bin Suroor as he lines up in this Group Three affair – but given his current mark of 108, options are really quite limited.

However, Winning Story has earned every bit of that fine perch through a fantastic winter on the all-weather, which culminated in victory on Finals Day at Lingfield last month.

Winner of a Newmarket maiden last spring, Winning Story was viewed as a possible Derby candidate but a heavy defeat in the Lingfield trial this time last year showed he was some way below the required standard and he did not actually reappear again until November.

Gelded in the interim, Winning Story unshipped his rider on his first outing but stepped up substantially on that effort subsequently to win a fast-track qualifier at Newcastle and finish second in another such event at Chelmsford.

Stablemate Natural Scenery was much better fancied for the final of the staying division of the All-Weather Championships that month but Winning Story really excelled in cheekpieces, making the most of a strong gallop to win in fine style.

Dropping back to a mile and five furlongs here may not be totally ideal but he does not lack for a bit of pace and he can make his stamina tell in the finish under Joe Fanning.

RUSUMAAT stepped up on lacklustre return to finish second last time out and he can go one place better with Jim Crowley on board in the AGV Handicap at Ascot's evening meeting.

This son of Arcano posted his career-best effort when second in a valuable sales event at York last August but struggled to make an impact when fielded in a similar event at Doncaster's St Leger meeting.

That was perhaps one run too many after a busy juvenile campaign and he looked badly in need of the outing on his return at Musselburgh before stripping much fitter to chase home That Is The Spirit.

Beaten just a neck on that occasion by the infinitely more experienced winner, Mark Johnston's inmate should have learned some valuable lessons that he can apply dropped back to three-year-old only company.