AUSTRALIAN powerhouse Starcraft could be one of the stars of Royal Ascot at York.

The five-year-old, a multiple Group One winner and now under the guidance of trainer Luca Cumani, is hoping to join Choisir among the Aussie immortals.

Choisir, trained in Sydney by Paul Perry, did an amazing double at Ascot in 2003, winning the Golden Jubilee Stakes and the King's Stand Stakes, the first Aussie-trained winner at the Royal meeting.

Although Starcraft has not run since October, he has won nine of his 17 races and the racing world is waiting with baited breath for his European debut at York on Tuesday.

Starcraft will be ridden by Darryl Holland in the Queen Anne Stakes on the opening day, when he will take on Michael Jarvis's stable star Rakti.

"Horses tend to improve from one race to the next and I'm under no illusion of the task facing Starcraft against Rakti," said Cumani.

Jarvis is quietly confident about Rakti, stunning winner of the Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on his return last month.

Rakti has become stirred up in big-race preliminaries in the past, and the Newmarket handler is hoping all goes well at York.

"When he came to me he wouldn't go in the stalls and then he wasn't very good at coming out of them, but he's been much better recently," said Jarvis, who has saddled 11 winners at the Royal meeting.

Horses have to walk across Knavesmire from the racecourse stables, passing the hospitality marquees to the saddling boxes, but Jarvis hopes to avoid the trek with Rakti.

He said: "I'm hoping to have a word with William Derby (clerk of the course) because I believe Motivator was boxed over before the Dante, so that would solve that problem."

Aussie import Elvestroem

won't go in the Queen Anne, trainer Tony Vasil opting to run him in the Prince of Wales's Stakes on Wednesday.

Updated: 10:43 Thursday, June 09, 2005