ROYAL Aclaim will face a fresh challenge when she returns to York for the Group 3 William Hill Summer Stakes on Friday.

The James Tate-trained sprinter has raced solely at the minimum trip in her seven starts to date, but a first try over six furlongs beckons in the £85,000 pattern feature..

Sent off favourite for last season’s Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes having previously landed the Listed John Smith’s City Walls Stakes on the Knavesmire, Royal Aclaim has yet to quite reach the lofty heights her early runs promised.

But Tate believes the daughter of Aclaim is primed for a seasonal best to date in what will be her third outing of 2023. He said: “Her dam got six furlongs very well and obviously Aclaim (her sire) got seven furlongs, so we thought it was about time we tried the six furlongs.

“Her performance is probably going to all come down to that and whether she improves for it or not, but she has had a good preparation into this race and she’s probably in the best shape she’s been in this year.

“She won at York last season and then she was never able to lay a glove on them racing on the wing a little bit in the Nunthorpe.

“We’d be pretty hopeful of a good performance, and we’re hoping that six furlongs will help her step up a little bit, but we’ll find out on Friday.”

Royal Aclaim finished mid-division in the Temple Stakes on her return at Haydock before running third in Listed company at Ayr. She sported cheekpieces on the latter occasion and will race in the same headgear on Friday.

“She has been travelling up there and maybe not finding as much as we’d like her to in her last few runs,” Tate said.

“She just has a habit of keeping her head to one side, particularly at Haydock first time out, so the cheekpieces just seemed to straighten her head carriage and help her focus a little bit more, at Ayr – she was running on at the line in them.”

“She’s proven on anywhere from fast to good to soft, but if we had our choice the quick side of good would be the ideal ground,” he said.

A field of ten fillies and mares has been assembled for the William Hill Summer Stakes, including classy three-year-old Mammas Girl, who drops back to sprinting, having run down the field in mile Group 1s on her last two starts.

Michael Dods will saddle three-time course and distance winner Gale Force Maya as she returns to the Knavesmire for the first time this season, while the 107-rated Swingalong looks a major contender, having run third in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Ascot last month.

York’s latest two-day fixture opens with the William Hill Epic Value handicap, scheduled for 2.05pm on Friday. The 64th running of the historic John Smith’s Cup is the highlight of Saturday’s card, with racing getting underway at 2.00pm.