Equinties - the Royal review

Gm Equinauts

Oh Royal Ascot, how beautiful you were.

Not only did the action deliver on the track, it delivered in the bars, the carparks and the betting ring too. It as a spectacle, a joy, a must for all race goers next year, it was perfect.

It’s especially good to see Racing X agree that the royal meeting was a success, even from the NH fan boys:

To further add to the good feeling, we got some numbers through about attendances and field sizes, and they were all impressive.

Last week just shows what British Racing can be when it’s on-song.

The most-recent Cheltenham Festival was, in all honesty, one to forget. However, we’ll do well to forget about Royal Ascot 2024 easily as the whole week was an overriding success.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

PERFORMANCES OF THE WEEK

CHARYN kicked us off with a dominant performance in the curtain raiser, the Gr1 Queen Anne, kicking clear of his rivals in really dominant fashion stretching the field out like hanging washing. He has been a model of consistency throughout his career only placing out of the top 4 in 2 of his 15 starts.

Last year he was Gr1 placed on 3 occasions and he has finally won his much deserved Gr1 as a 4yo. This win justifies his Owners decision to keep him in training as a 4yo and it has paid dividends. Whatever he does now is a bonus and he’ll be well received as a Stallion next year being by Royal Ascot Champion sire DARK ANGEL and a full brother to Gr2 winner WINGS OF WAR.

FAIRY GODMOTHER displayed a potent turn of foot in the Albany Stakes for the Ballydoyle/Coolmore team winning in a time 0.97s slower than the Commonwealth Cup 35minutes later. Noteable horses to have been placed before are CACHET (won the following years 1000 Guineas), MAWJ (won the following years 1000 Guineas) and ORTA FORTUNA (2nd in the following years 1000 Guineas and win the Coronation Stakes). Bred by Ballyphilip Stud’s Paul McCartan the breeder of BATTAASH, TIGGY WIGGY, The ANTARCTIC and NANDO PARRADO.

BEDTIME STORY is bred in the purple being by FRANKEL o/o Gr1 winning sprinter MACCAS ANGEL. She ripped apart her rivals showing a clean pair of heels. Although she’s out of a sprinter FRANKEL normally puts stamina in to his stock so you’d imagine a mile at 3 will be no problem and she was installed as the 1000 Guineas market favourite for next year, her next start will likely be the Moyglare Stakes. Time will tell how good the form is of this race as she did win by an unbelievable 9 lengths but she clearly has a lot of talent.

TRAINING PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

One of the training performances of the week came from Gerard Keane as he got CRYSTAL BLACK to win the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap Stakes.

He got the horse from Dermot Weld when he was on a mark of 83, lost three times, and then started on a winning sequence from a mark of 77.

This week, he won off a mark of 103 and managed to do it from stall 4. Colin Keane also put up a shout for ride of the week as winning from a low stall over 1m4f at Ascot is difficult.

RIDE OF THE WEEK

This section goes to RYAN MOORE for a number of his rides throughout the week, specifically ILLINOIS and AUGUSTE RODIN on day one.

The first of which is for his horsemanship to guide his mount forward despite him wanting to lean to the stands’ side when hitting the front too early.

He sat on the pace and that could have well seen him swallowed up at the finish, but he got his sectionals spot on and that helped ILLINOIS get home.

As for AUGUSTE RODIN, this was slightly different as SNOBBISH and HANS ANDERSEN set quick fractions from the front. However, when he hit the front two furlongs from home, he had ZARAKEM and HORIZON DORE behind to shoot at him. Despite this, Moore kept him up to his work and that helped the Breeders’ Cup winner bounce back to success.

ROYAL ASCOT FLOPS

DUBAWI, one of the most expensive sires in the world to visit with your mare at £350,000 didn’t have one winner at the meeting. Amazingly Coolmore helped him to his two best performances of the week in HENRY LONGFELLOW and CAMBRIDGE both filling 2nd place spots. ROGUE MILLENIUM was disappointing in the Duke of Cambridge.

GODOLPHIN didn’t get on the scoresheet last year, so a welcome winner in WILD TIGER for Saaeed was a feather in his cap. A 5yo gelding winning is good, but it’s not the kind of standard that Sheikh Mohammed will be expecting from his team.

Charlie Appleby will be having a few quiet words with himself. MOUNTAIN BREEZE was firmly put in her place in the Albany coming 4th. TRAWLERMAN who is trained by Gosden put in a really smart performance in the Gold Cup but wrong stable.

The AMO RACING team will be scratching their heads, no doubt Kia will be calling a team meeting off the back of a disappointing week. ARIZONA BLAZE was 3rd in the Norfolk Stakes and he was their best performance of the week. Poor show.

JUDDMONTE were luckless. Frankel’s brother, KIKKULI looks to have a bright future giving HAATEM competition in the Jersey. No doubt LAUREL will come on for her 2nd in the Duke Of Cambridge and KALPANA might want dropping back to 1m2f.

EYE-CATCHERS OF THE WEEK

HOLLOWAY BOY - WEDNESDAY 17.05 ASCOT

One of the biggest eye-catchers of the week came in the Royal Hunt Cup as HOLLOWAY BOY got no run through the race.

Sam James was hard on the bridle and in a similar position to where SONNY LISTON, the runner-up, was two furlongs from home. However, while last year’s second found a route through by weaving to the middle, James stuck down the stands’ side with HOLLOWAY BOY and that saw him stay on past horses late in the race.

With Group-level form in the book off a handicap mark in the 100s, he will pop up at some stage this season.

KALPANA – THURSDAY 15.45 ASCOT

Oisin Murphy highlighted KALPANA as his loser of the week to keep onside going forward, and we can see why after her third in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes on Thursday.

She was well-backed on the day and Andrew Balding thought she was his best chance of a winner all week, though her route through the race was a tough one. She was tucked up the rail and when she went to make her first move, the winner – PORT FAIRY – moved across her line. LAVA STREAM then kept her in a bit, so by the time she got going again, she ran out of track and had to settle for third.

She is well-bred as her dam is a Listed winner, so she is one to watch this year, especially when Balding’s yard is in better form.

MOUNTAIN BEAR – SATURDAY 16.25 ASCOT

While all eyes were on RIVER TIBER for the Jersey Stakes, another Ballydoyle contender went a little bit under the radar as MOUNTAIN BEAR was sent off at 50/1. Well, he went under the radar for most, though a few people were on the horse who finished fourth. The three-year-old by NO NAY NEVER, who has Group 1 two-year-old form in the book, travelled very smartly under Wayne Lordan but was probably a victim of being too far on the right. BOILING POINT also gave him a nudge in-running which didn’t help.

A Group race back in Ireland in a slightly lower race will see him return to the winners’ enclosure.

ORAZIO – SATURDAY 17.05 ASCOT

A bad draw and bad position gave ORAZIO and Saffie Osborne an impossible task in the Wokingham Stakes, but the pair still tried hard and finished an eye-catching third.

The five-year-old has promised plenty in handicaps for a full year as he was the well-backed 7/2 favourite for the race in 2023, but he’s yet to deliver. Saturday looked like a big step in the right direction and this was his second big performance on good to firm ground, so maybe he isn’t as ground-dependent as people think he is. Maybe he can handle quick ground as well as soft?

OTHER NEWS - ANOTHER ONE GONE

Prominent owner Ahmad Al Shaikh says that he had to sell Epsom Derby fifth SAYEDATY SADATY to Australia in order “to continue” in British racing.

The owner, who had the three-year-old by ANODIN and DEIRA MILE - placed fourth - run in this year’s Derby, has a track record of selling horses who ran well in British Classics. After all, he sold HOO YA MAL following his second to DESERT CROWN in the 2022 Derby. However, the owner has decided to keep DEIRA MILE in order to have an Irish Derby runner this weekend.

Where is SAYEDATY SADATY off? Well, Australian Bloodstock have bought him, so he’ll be off down under ASAP.

He said: “Each year, I like to try and sell two to three horses and then that allows me to keep the others. This year, I have two good horses, which means I can keep one because I have sold one. And I have been able to buy horses who are two-year-olds and can come through over the next year for me.

“I have had a lot of calls about Sayedaty Sadaty and I have had a lot of calls about Deira Mile. I have had people at Ascot who want to try and buy him from me but I am able to keep him now. I hope he can run in the St Leger, and then maybe the Arc. I don't know, but it's exciting.”

DEIRA MILE is a general 14/1-shot for this weekend’s Irish Derby.

More: https://www.racingpost.com/news/britain/i-need-to-do-this-to-continue-in-british-racing-says-leading-owner-after-derby-fifth-sold-to-australia-ap5Vl9S8VRL6/

RISK ON

It’s been a good few weeks for this section. We landed three from three bets at Newbury’s last meeting, hit the Boughey treble last week and a few more from that yard since then…

Today, we’re back at Newbury and playing these:

18.40 URESHII

As regular readers will know we have been tracking this horse and today could be the day. Balding in shocking form so not a big bet but he should be too classy for this field. 2/1

19.50 CHASSERAL

Ex-Balding horse now with Stuart Williams who loves setting one up. This girl is 10lbs below peak mark, was given an eye-catching ride lto and looks by far the best in the race. 10/3 a good bet.

Small ew double pays nearly 12’s.

Today’s leverage to add to another bet is HUELGOAT in the 15.00.

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