Poetic Flare seeks to uphold family tradition in St James's Palace
Bolger’s hardy colt out to emulate his brilliant sire Dawn Approach.
At The RacesJun 14, 2021
Bolger’s hardy colt out to emulate his brilliant sire Dawn Approach.
At roughly 2 1/2 miles, the Ascot Gold Cup ranks among the longest Group 1 races in the world, and at age 7 the race's favorite Stradivarius knows something about staying around for a good long while.
Star miler bids for more Royal meeting honours.
After Love won the 1000 Guineas in June 2020 and the Oaks in July, coming back in August with the easiest of victories in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks, everyone was eager to see what the budding star filly would do next. Wednesday at Royal Ascot, we finally get to find out.
Last year’s winner Battaash leads the way in Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot after all 16 horses stood their ground at the 48-hour final declaration stage.
Introduced for the first time into The Racing Calendar (and Royal Ascot) last year for 4yo+ stayers rated 0-105, this contest over an extended 1m6f could be an insightful guide to Ebor Handicap. That certainly proved to be the case last year when the successful favourite, Fujaira Prince, then also justified favouritism at York on his next start.
This is the fourth year of the Wolferton being a Listed race (rather than a Listed handicap) over 1m2f on the round course. It usually features a double-figure field where they meet a bend after a furlong, so the draw can be important.
Unquestionably the most punter-friendly handicap at the meeting with 11 of the last 12 winners sent off at no bigger than 12/1 and, in the last 31 years, as a many as 21 winners could be found in the first six in the betting.
It usually pays to stick to the leading fancies for the St James’s Palace Stakes. Only the Aidan O’Brien-trained Circus Maximus (10/1), who had previously failed to stay in the Derby when finishing sixth, has won at double-figure odds since 1992 when Brief Truce floored Arazi and Rodrigo De Triano (both unplaced).
After only finding Blue Point too good in the 2018 and 2019 runnings, with his old rival packed off to stud, Battaash made it third time lucky in the King’s Stand when running out an easy winner last season.