Ascot Racecourse

Last month's Listed Windsor Castle Stakes runner-up Moonrise (Churchill) went one better on her return to Ascot with a career best in Saturday's G3 Princess Margaret Japan Cup Stakes at the Berkshire venue. "She got a nice lead into it today and she was then strong at the end as well, so we're very pleased," said Andrew Balding after securing the first leg of an afternoon Group-race treble, a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. "She had done some nice work before the Windsor...

Nine contenders will head postward for Saturday's £2-million G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes after declarations for Britain's midsummer showpiece were confirmed Thursday morning Last year's first and second, Calandagan (Gleneagles) and Kalpana (Study Of Man), will be accompanied by 2024 hero Goliath (Adlerflug) in a renewal for the ages. Throw into the mix a Ballydoyle task force consisting of last year's G1 Derby hero Lambourn (Australia), last month's G1 Irish Derby winner Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel), the triple G1 Oaks-winning Arc runner-up Minnie Hauk (Frankel) and G1 Futurity...

Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Public Affairs at Ascot Racecourse, has heralded the "significant momentum" behind the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, with a top-class edition in prospect on Saturday and it being announced that the midsummer highlight will be worth £2.5 million from 2027. Currently, the King George shares top spot with the Derby among the richest races staged on British soil, with Saturday's Group 1 feature set to offer total prize-money of £2 million for the first time, having been run for £1.5 million when...

Karl Burke representative Zeus Olympios (Night Of Thunder), successful in two Group races last term, was winless in three pattern-race starts this year and stepped forward to halt his losing sequence with a battling performance in Saturday's G2 Juddmonte Summer Mile at Ascot. Accepting a tow in third after racing up front through the first three furlongs, the 7-2 chance made headway in the straight to launch his challenge entering the final furlong and came under a late drive out to deny stablemate Holloway Boy (Ulysses) and Seagulls Eleven (Galileo...

Rabbah Racing's Simon and Ed Crisford trainee Flann Sunna (Blue Point) notched an impressive debut score at Windsor last month and, penalised four pounds for that success, surged clear of toiling rivals in the closing stages of Friday's Knight Frank Conditions Stakes at Ascot to become his sire's sixth TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard. "I really liked his performance [at Windsor] last time and the George Boughey horse [runner-up Perfect Nation] has come out and won since," said winning rider Jack Mitchell. "He just seems to improve and he's...

Japanese challenger Satono Reve (Lord Kanaloa) was narrowly denied in last year's G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and suffered heartbreak again as Shadwell's homebred William Haggas trainee Almeraq (Dark Angel) swooped fast and late to claim a career high on Group 1 debut in a pulsating renewal of the six-furlong feature. Almeraq was one of two fallers in last year's Listed Garrowby Stakes at York, an incident from which rider Jim Crowley has yet to return to the saddle. "As you know, Almeraq had a fall...

The Stateside raiders put it up to their European counterparts in Royal Ascot's G2 Norfolk Stakes, a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series "Win And You're In" qualifier for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, but had to give best in the closing stages as Clive Cox trainee Orthodox (Havana Grey) surged on by inside the final furlong to lead home an exacta for his Whitsbury Manor Stud-based sire. "Orthodox won at Salisbury and that was exciting, but we were only scratching the surface," said trainer Clive Cox, who won...

An interrupted preparation was a mitigating factor when Precise (Starspangledbanner) blotted her copybook in the G1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, but the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine was in no mood for succumbing to outside influences as Ryan Moore got the selection right in Friday's G1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. Moore was an embedded observer in seventh as True Love (No Nay Never) found glory at HQ and was aboard that stablemate when Precise gained redemption at the Curragh last month. "She was a little bit slow away, but...

Two-race maiden King Of Cloughan (St Mark's Basilica) was, at odds of 33-1, the outsider of Joseph O'Brien's three runners and he paid a handsome compliment to his Leopardstown conqueror and TDN Rising Star Nola Soul (Justify), a Listed Chesham Stakes contender, with a taking performance in Wednesday's new-look Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot. "We thought bringing King Of Cloughan back in trip was the right move, but it was hard to fancy him because he'd been beaten in two maidens," the winning trainer said. "We liked the...

Last term's G1 Sun Chariot Stakes runner-up Blue Bolt (Blue Point), a rare Juddmonte purchase, is back on the path into elite-level company after breaking Andrew Balding's duck at this year's Royal Ascot meeting with a dominant performance in the latter stages of Wednesday's G2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes. "This has been the plan since she ran so well in the Sun Chariot at the end of last year," said Balding. "Barring her first start at Southwell, she has never run a bad race and we've had this in our...

Aidan O'Brien had not won the G2 Queen Mary Stakes until subsequent G1 1000 Guineas heroine True Love (No Nay Never) prevailed last year and the Ballydoyle maestro edged closer to a century of Royal Ascot winners when TDN Rising Star Victorious (Wootton Bassett), who is blind in one eye, produced a telling burst in the closing stages of the five-furlong contest to provide the trainer with a 99th Royal winner. "She's incredible, we knew she was very classy and we've always felt that she'd be very good," O'Brien said....

Friday's G1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot will witness a clash of the Guineas heroines as G1 Irish 1000 Guineas victrix Precise (Starspangledbanner) and G1 1000 Guineas winner True Love (No Nay Never) meet for a third time. Ryan Moore will partner the Precise, while Wayne Lordan will be aboard True Love. Nine-strong opposition to the Aidan O'Brien stablemates includes the Donnacha O'Brien-trained GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Balantina (Ten Sovereigns). Earlier on the card, 22 speedsters will go forward for the G1 Commonwealth Cup with Ballydoyle supplying...