Royal Ascot

After lighting up Royal Ascot, a tilt at the Melbourne Cup could be on the cards for Crystal Black (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), with Ireland's reigning champion jockey Colin Keane explaining how the gelding has provided his father "with a new lease of life" after a horror fall in 2021 almost left the trainer paralysed.  The celebrations that followed Crystal Black's victory in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at Ascot went unrivalled as the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate who own the former Dermot Weld-trained inmate burst into song in the...

Providing that she maintains her form over the summer, G1 King Charles III Stakes victress Asfoora (Aus) (Flying Artie {Aus}) could take her globetrotting trip to the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, trainer Henry Dwyer said in an interview with racenet.com.au. With that win at Royal Ascot, a race part of the 'Win and You're In' program, she secured a guaranteed fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Asfoora is the sixth Australian-trained sprinter to claim the race, formerly called the G1 King's Stand Stakes. "The Breeders Cup...

Royal Ascot was tremendous in myriad ways. Sun up, crowd up, and a spread of results which drew in some of the world's biggest owners and trainers alongside syndicates and smaller yards. Then on Sunday morning came the news that QIPCO is to significantly reduce its sponsorship of British racing from next year. British Champions Day will still be run in its name, and the company owned by Sheikhs Hamad and Fahad Al Thani will remain as an official partner of Ascot racecourse, but Newmarket's Guineas meeting, Ascot's King George...

Six winners across the week saw Coolmore, Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore sweep the leading owner, trainer and jockey titles at Royal Ascot for a second successive year. O'Brien received a thirteenth leading trainer award at Royal Ascot and increased his lead as the most successful current trainer at the meeting, ending the week on 91 career victories. Moore, crowned leading jockey at the meeting for an eleventh time, surpassed Frankie Dettori as the most successful current jockey at Royal Ascot. His career haul of 85 places him second on...

In 2023, when Porta Fortuna (Caravaggio) went to Ascot for a shot at the G3 Albany Stakes, which she would go on to win, the other partners in the ownership group tried to convince Mark Taylor to come along on the trip. Taylor Made's Medallion Racing had bought Porta Fortuna along with Barry Fowler, Steve Weston and Dean Reeves after her two-year-old debut win at the Curragh last April, and had already been rewarded with three graded stakes wins, including the G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes, and a second in...

Isle Of Jura (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) stormed to a memorable Hardwicke victory on Saturday to provide trainer George Scott and rider Callum Shepherd with a breakthrough Royal Ascot success. The win was a timely one for Shepherd, who endured a hammer blow when losing the ride aboard Ambiente Friendly (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), who would go on to finish second in the Derby.  Naturally, Shepherd was overcome with emotion after crossing the winning line in front aboard Isle Of Jura, who is owned by Bahrain's Victorious Racing and racked up...

Wathnan Racing's dual Classic-placed acquisition Haatem (Ire) (Phoenix Of Spain {Ire}--Hard Walnut {Ire}, by Cape Cross {Ire}) went postward for Saturday's G3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot lumbered with a three-pound Group 3 penalty and defied that impost in game fashion to register a narrow victory in the seven-furlong test. Haatem was swiftly into stride and settled into a comfortable rhythm slipstreaming fellow Wathnan contender Native American (Ire) (Sioux Nation) in a prominent fourth from the outset. Tanking forward on the bridle to lead approaching the quarter-mile pole, the 7-2...

Swooping to record back-to-back successes in Saturday's G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, Fitri Hay's Khaadem (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}--White Daffodil {Ire}, by Footstepsinthesand {GB}) proved himself a true horses-for-courses sprinter under Oisin Murphy. Let go at 80-1 getting the full Jamie Spencer treatment 12 months ago, the Charlie Hills-trained 8-year-old who was 14-1 this time was always travelling like the winner in behind and when finally given the command swamped Swingalong (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) inside the final furlong for a half-length win. Mill Stream (Ire) (Gleneagles...

Victorious Racing's Isle Of Jura (GB) (New Approach {Ire}--Falls Of Lora {Ire}, by Street Cry {Ire}), who enjoyed a lucrative winter campaign snagging four of five starts in Bahrain, made a winning European comeback in last month's Listed Festival Stakes and stepped forward to secure an emotional victory for rider Callum Shepherd in Saturday's G2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot. The 16-1 chance was positioned fifth through the initial strides and improved one spot after the opening exchanges of this 12-furlong contest. Easing closer on the home turn and moving...

Turning the Listed Chesham Stakes into her own Royal Ascot procession on Saturday, Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star Bedtime Story (Ire) (Frankel {GB}--Mecca's Angel {Ire}, by Dark Angel {Ire}) recorded the widest-margin win of the week by some way to enter the 2025 Classic conversation. Content to follow the leaders in the group racing up the centre, the 11-8 favourite who had won a Leopardstown maiden earlier this month was let loose by Ryan Moore two out and surged clear for an emphatic 9 1/2-length success. Pentle Bay (Ire) (New Bay...

Following his runner-up showing in Wednesday's Windsor Castle Stakes during the Royal Ascot meeting, Gabaldon (Gone Astray) has returned to the States and will now be pointed to a long-range goal of making it to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar. Having punched his ticket into the field at the Royal meeting via the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes May 11, the grey almost pulled a shocker in the contest from his stands' side position. Blazing a trail as the frontrunner after the large field of 27...

You can keep your fashionistas, foodies, royal processions and Group 1 races. Give me the scenes that followed the success of Crystal Black (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes any day of the week instead.  Win, lose or draw, the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate who own Crystal Black came to Ascot for a party. Boy did their rapidly progressive gelding provide them with something to celebrate and the scenes that followed his success for the father and son team of Gerry and Colin Keane will go...