Ascot Gold Cup

The Ascot Gold Cup is the main priority for defending champion Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and St Leger third Gregory (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}), according to Richard Brown, racing advisor for owners Wathnan Racing.  The John and Thady Gosden-trained duo gave the Qatar-based operation the perfect start to their ownership enterprise last season. Both horses hold entries for the Boodles Yorkshire Cup on May 17, while Sandown's Henry II S. a week later is another possible option for the duo to tune up for their main summer assignment....

Papineau (GB) (Singspiel {GB}), the winner of the 2004 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot for Godolphin and Saeed Bin Suroor, has died at the age of 24. The half-brother to Derby runner-up Silver Patriarch (GB) was bred by the late Peter Winfield and bought at the Tattersalls December Sale as a foal in 2000. An accomplished stayer and winner of five of his nine races, Papineau's work in his long retirement was arguably even more important. A Godolphin Lifetime Care Ambassador, he was initially rehomed and retrained as a dressage...

Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) has been declared a non-runner in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot due to the unsuitably quick going. Alan King had warned the 6-year-old would bypass the fixture if the ground was too quick but left the gelding in the Group One contest in case of unexpected rain. However, no rain has fallen and with the going described as good to firm, Trueshan sidesteps the Thursday feature, as he did last year when the ground was also fast. The Aidan O'Brien-trained Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is...

Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}), the long-time ante-post favourite for the G1 Ascot Gold Cup, has taken a walk in the betting for the Thursday showpiece after connections said he was unlikely to run at the royal meeting due to unsuitably quick ground.  A general 5-2 favourite for the race on Sunday morning, Trueshan could be backed at odds as big as 15-2 after the 6-year-old's trainer Alan King revealed that the quick ground was likely to scupper plans of running in the Gold Cup.  The ground at Ascot was described...

Soft ground? No worries. If anything, that extra dimension only served to exaggerate the superiority of Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) as Bjorn Nielsen's chestnut entered immortality with an emphatic third G1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. Joining Sagaro (GB) and now only one off Yeats (Ire) with his awe-inspiring tally, the 4-5 favourite was always well within his comfort zone sauntering around this part of Berkshire that he has made his own. Switched off in his customary mid-division pitch throughout the early stages, he was lightly squeezed into...

If it's G1 Gold Cup day at Royal Ascot, it has to be Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) and whether it's a settee, sofa, couch, chaise longue, armchair, easy chair or lounger that the enthralled global TV audience are watching on, they are going to be on the edge of it at 3.35pm GMT. Very few get the chance to come back and win this monumental prize three years in succession. We are talking about legends here, a club in which only Sagaro (GB) and Yeats (Ire) are the...

Kew Gardens (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will miss the chance to renew his rivalry with Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) after being removed from consideration for the June 18 G1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. A tweet from Ballydoyle on Friday morning read, "We weren't 100% happy with Kew Gardens this morning and he will not be entered in the Ascot Gold Cup." The winner of the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and G1 St Leger at three, Kew Gardens was runner-up in the G1 Coronation Cup and G1 Irish...

Double Trigger (Ire) (Ela-Mana-Mou {Ire}), one of the most popular stayers of the modern era, died in retirement at Clarendon Farm on Sunday at the age of 29. During a long and illustrious racing career, Double Trigger won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 1995 but will perhaps be best remembered for his record-breaking three Goodwood Cup wins. He also won the Doncaster Cup on three occasions, including on his final racecourse start at the age of seven. Bred by Dene Investments N V, and bought from Ballygallon Stud...