Forget racing's latest initiative to promote the sport, there is no better advertisement for the Flat than its equine stars - and few come much bigger than Yeats.

Last season he equalled Sagaro's record of having won three Ascot Gold Cups and Aidan O'Brien will have him trained to the minute in his bid to record an unprecedented fourth success in the Group 1 race at the Royal meeting tomorrow.

We love our heroes and on last season's form, when he thrashed Geordieland by five lengths in the staying championship race, he would appear to have an outstanding chance.

Whatever happens to Yeats, the eight-year-old will go down as one of the all-time great stayers but he has not had the same untroubled preparation in the build-up to tomorrow's renewal.

Last season he twice won over 13 and 14 furlongs before travelling to the Berkshire track, but this term he's had just the one run - a poor sixth of eight in soft ground at Navan in April.

To be fair, O'Brien's horses were not firing early in the season. However, his stable is in much better form now and he won the big race at the meeting yesterday, the St James's Palace Stakes with Mastercraftsman. But the key statistic Yeats has to overcome is that eight-year-olds simply do not win Gold Cups, even in poor years.

So put sentiment aside and pin your hopes on Veracity to cause an upset in the feature event on Ladies' Day. It is true he has never attempted the 2m 4f trip, but neither had Yeats before he won it for the first time as a five-year-old.

Having won twice last season, Veracity was also only a little way behind Yeats in the Prix Royal Oak.

After a couple of races in Dubai over the winter, the five-year-old ran a fair race behind Patkai's stablemate Ask in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup after three months off, despite running over a trip that was on the sharp side in ground that was not fast enough for him.

But this has been his target all along, he races like an out-and-out stayer and can give Godolphin - and rider Frankie Dettori - a fifth victory in the Gold Cup.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor said: "He's a tough horse and a real stayer. He ran good races on both his starts in Dubai. He has been working nicely since his return and we are hopeful he will run well."

Geordieland is out to make it third time lucky for Jamie Osborne, having finished runner-up in his last two Gold Cups, but though his five-length drubbing of Patkai in Sandown's Henry II Stakes last month was a good performance, the grey is also eight and age is against him.

Patkai is a much-improved stayer who made good headway at Sandown, before being headed inside the final furlong. He is perhaps the biggest danger to Veracity.