Fillies could rule Prince of Wales's
Among them, the eight runners in Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England have won 29 stakes, including nine Group 1 or Grade 1 races.
Yet, the two leading contenders – the 4-year-old fillies Magical and Sea of Class – are best known for races they lost narrowly in the last year. Magical, the 9-5 favorite as of Monday, was second to Enable in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs last November. Sea of Class (11-4) was second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in Paris last October, also to Enable, in her most recent start.
They are the only two fillies in a field that includes Desert Encounter, who won the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine last October; Waldgeist, who was fifth in the 2018 BC Turf and won the Group 1 Prix Ganay at Longchamp in April; and Zabeel Prince, who won the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp on May 26.
With a purse of approximately $944,475, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles is the richest race of the five-day Royal Ascot meeting, which continues through Saturday. The winner of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
Magical, who will be ridden by Ryan Moore for Aidan O’Brien, is unbeaten in three starts in Ireland this year, including a seven-length win at 2-7 against four rivals in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on May 26. Magical won the Group 1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes at Ascot last October in her last start in England.
Sea of Class, trained by William Haggas in England, was beaten a short neck by Enable in the Arc de Triomphe, overcoming trouble in early stretch to just miss in her sixth career start and first against males. She won four consecutive stakes from May to August last year, a span ending in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks.
Two runners in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes won at Royal Ascot last year.
Crystal Ocean, who was 7-2 in the betting on Monday, won the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at 1 1/2 miles. Trained by Michael Stoute, Crystal Ocean later finished a game second to Poet’s Word in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Ascot last July. This year, Crystal Ocean has won two Group 3 races as preps for Wednesday’s race.
Hunting Horn won the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes for 3-year-olds at Royal Ascot last year. Trained by O’Brien, Hunting Horn is rated as a 40-1 outsider in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. Since winning the Hampton Court, Hunting Horn has had four starts in the United States, the most recent of which was a fourth in the Group 1 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park on May 11.
Wednesday’s six-race program at Royal Ascot begins at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, and starts and finishes with 2-year-old stakes.
American trainer Wesley Ward, who has 10 career victories at Royal Ascot, has two runners in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at five furlongs for fillies at the start of the day and two in the Windsor Castle Stakes, a listed race at five furlongs, the final race of the day. The races are run through the mile-long stretch.
Anna’s Fast and Kimari won maiden races at Keeneland in April and are rated as leading chances in the Queen Mary, which drew a full field of 28. Final Song, the five-length winner of a maiden race at Ascot on May 10 in her debut, is expected to be favored at about 5-1 for trainer Saeed bin Suroor. Anna’s Fast was 7-1 as of Monday.
In the Windsor Castle, Ward runs Foolish Humor and Karak, the winners of maiden races at Belmont Park in May. Foolish Humor was about 9-1 on Monday, the second choice behind 13-2 Temple of Heaven, who is unbeaten in two starts for English trainer Richard Hannon.