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Ed Bethell’s stable star heads a final field of ten for the Group 2 sprint at Newbury on Saturday.
Last year's Sprint Cup hero Regional has been rerouted to the Group 2 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury on Saturday after connections withdrew the colt from the July Cup due to soft ground at Newmarket last weekend.
The bargain-buy has been something of a revelation for the up-and-coming Northern trainer and will head to Newbury on the back of an excellent second to the Australian raider Asfoora in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.
An official mark of 114 sees Ed Bethell's contender top the ratings for Saturday's Group 2, where he'll face a maximum of nine rivals on ground currently described as Good to Soft, Good (in places).
Speaking to Sky Sports Racing earlier in the week, Bethell said: "I thought it was going to be on the easy side of good for the July Cup, which all the jockeys said it was, and I thought it was probably best for us to take our time and have a look at this race,"
"It looks like a very drying week, so hopefully we get a bit of good/good to firm ground on Saturday.
"It was a huge run (at Royal Ascot). It looked like he wanted six furlongs and a flat six like this at Newbury should play to his strengths.
"I'm really looking forward to running him. He's been a great horse for all of us, so fingers crossed the ground dries out enough for him."
The son of Territories looks set to take on the three-year-old's Elite Status, Lake Forest and Kind of Blue. The former created a nice impression when bolting up in the Listed Carnarvon Stakes over course and distance on his latest outing, while the latter pair finished second and fourth respectively behind Inisherin, who subsequently was a below-par fifth in the July Cup, in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last month.
"The three-year-olds are definitely worth worrying about, but at the same time, Mill Stream and Swingalong took them on at Newmarket and beat them. Whether there was a bit of a track bias in that race I'm not sure, but we've got the form in the book and fingers crossed we can run a big race," added Bethell.
"He seems in good nick and I'm looking forward to it, but under no illusions that it's going to be a hard race.
"I'm looking forward to having a go back over six furlongs in the Hackwood and we'll probably be back on to the Sprint Cup after that."
Elsewhere on the cards, nineteen horses were declared for the £250,000 Weatherbys Super Sprint Stakes. The Hugo Palmer-trained It Ain't Two features among the declarations, although Windsor Castle Stakes winner Ain't Nobody, who was a disappointing sixth in the July Stakes at Newmarket last week, was not declared. 
