Ascot: Hootenanny second choice in Commonwealth Cup

Royal Ascot came alive for American trainer Wesley Ward on Wednesday when Acapulco won the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, the trainer’s fifth career win at England’s most prestigious flat race meeting.

Ward has an even greater prize on his mind Friday when Hootenanny, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita last October, starts in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, a $588,937 sprint for 3-year-olds at six furlongs on turf.

Hootenanny, a colt by Quality Road, won the 2014 Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot and was later second in the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville, France. Owned by Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith, Hootenanny won an allowance race at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Keeneland on April 18 in his only start this year.

The Commonwealth Cup drew a field of 18. Hootenanny, who will be ridden by Ryan Moore, is the 5-1 second choice with British bookmakers behind Limato, trained by Henry Candy. Limato, a 7-2 shot, won his first five starts, but was second to Adaay in Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock Park on May 30. Adaay is 7-1 to win the Commonwealth Cup.

There are five American-trained runners on Friday’s six-race program at Royal Ascot – three trained by Ward and one each from Graham Motion and George Weaver.

Weaver runs the unbeaten Cyclogenisis in the Commonwealth Cup. A Stormy Atlantic colt, Cyclogenisis has won three races, including the Laurel Futurity last September and the Tom Ridge Stakes at Presque Isle Downs on May 19.

There are two Group 1 races on Friday’s program – the Commonwealth Cup and the $588,937 Coronation Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile. In the Coronation, Motion starts the 50-1 outsider Miss Temple City, who won the Hilltop Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf May 15 at Pimlico.

Motion said in an email Wednesday that Miss Temple City handled the trip to England without difficultly.

“This is a tough assignment, but I feel that she is a very good filly who continues to improve,” he said. “It seems the ground should be firm, which will help us.”

The favorite for the Coronation Stakes will be Found, who was second in the Irish 1000 Guineas on May 24.

Ward has two runners in Friday’s first race, the $109,935 Albany Stakes, a Group 3 race for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs. Ward starts Back at the Ranch, by Artie Schiller, who beat maidens at Belmont Park on May 7; and Laxfield Road, a Quality Road filly who won a maiden race at Keeneland in April.

Free Eagle holds on in Prince of Wales’s

Wednesday’s top race, the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, produced an epic finish when Free Eagle, the 5-2 favorite, edged The Grey Gatsby by a short head in the 1 1/4-mile turf race.

Free Eagle, ridden by Pat Smullen, led in the final furlong and was fully extended to hold off The Grey Gatsby, who won the 2014 French Derby. The Prince of Wales’s Stakes was the first start for Free Eagle since a third in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot last October.

A 4-year-old colt by High Chaparral, Free Eagle is owned by Moyglare Stud Farms and trained by Dermot Weld.

The Prince of Wales’s Stakes had nine runners, but did not have an American runner. California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, was scratched after an abscess was detected in his foot Monday.

Acapulco, the 5-2 favorite, won the $157,000 Queen Mary Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths over Easton Angel, a 13-2 shot. The Queen Mary Stakes at five furlongs was Acapulco’s first win. She was third in a maiden race at Churchill Downs on May 8 in her debut.

“I think she’s got a big future on turf,” Ward said. “She’s a beautiful, gorgeous filly and to look at her you would think she was 4.”

By Scat Daddy, Acapulco races for Gay Smith, Doreen Tabor, and Magnier.

Ward also was ninth in the Queen Mary Stakes with Bruised Orange.

Earlier on the program, the Ward-trained Luck of the Kitten, second to Hootenanny in the BC Juvenile Turf last year, was 11th of 16 in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes behind 14-1 Dutch Connection.