Poet's Word upsets Cracksman in Prince of Wales's Stakes
Poet’s Word ran down the odds-on Cracksman to win the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday at Royal Ascot.
Marcus HershJun 20, 2018
Poet’s Word ran down the odds-on Cracksman to win the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday at Royal Ascot.
Blue Point, beaten in his first five Group 1 races in England and Hong Kong, proved the spoiler in Tuesday’s Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, finishing 1 3/4 lengths in front of the highly regarded Battaash.
Accidental Agent, who never had won a group stakes race of any sort, won the Group 1, $838,500 Queen Anne Stakes to start the Royal Ascot meeting Tuesday in England.
John Gosden first won the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1994, and there will a host of downcast bettors if he fails to win it for a fourth time on Wednesday.
Order Of St. George's outstanding record in marathon races will make him the favorite for Thursday's $662,500 Ascot Gold Cup, the main race on the third day of five at the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting, which continues through Saturday.
Lady Aurelia and Battaash start nearly side by side in Tuesday's Group 1 King's Stand Stakes at five furlongs at Royal Ascot in England. The post positions are somewhat fitting. The two have been inseparable in the betting in recent days.
Laurens was a brave winner of the Group 1 Prix de Diane on Sunday at Chantilly, the first classic-race winner for trainer Karl Burke and onetime jumps rider P.J. McDonald.
There is no soft opening to the Royal Ascot meeting, which launches right into full flight Tuesday with one of the best races of the five-day meet, the Group 1 Queen Anne over a straight-course mile.
The Prix de Diane – the French Oaks – is among the few Group 1 races in Europe that have eluded trainer Aidan O'Brien, and while the O'Brien-trained Happily is the second choice in early betting to capture the Prix de Diane on Sunday at Chantilly, it's fair to wonder if O'Brien will have to wait at least another year for this prize.
Royal Ascot fever is breaking out all over America. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, a traditionalist whom you might think immune to such a syndrome, has caught a mild case. The germ has extended its reach so far that trainer Tim Glyshaw, often found at Indiana Grand at this time of year, was in England this week being fitted for appropriate race-going attire, including, of course, the traditional Ascot hat.