A short head separated Dawn Approach and Toronado in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 18. As of Monday, little separated the two 3-year-old colts in the betting for Wednesday’s Group 1 Sussex Stakes.
Elusive Kate defended her title and won the fourth Group 1 race of her career with a relatively easy victory in Sunday’s $396,000 Prix Rothschild at Deauville, France.
Novellist set a course record for 1 1/2 miles at Ascot with a career-defining win in Saturday’s $1,629,450 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Elusive Kate won the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville, France, last July, and will be favored to win the one-mile turf race for fillies and mares again on Sunday.
After a fifth-place finish in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in his season debut, Cirrus des Aigles looks fit for a run the Group 1 King George, a Win and You're In Race for the Breeders' Cup Turf.
Nymphea, ridden by 18-year-old amateur jockey Dennis Schiergen for his father, trainer Peter Schiergen, led throughout Sunday’s Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin at Hoppegarten Racecourse in Germany.
Chicquita, who fell when leading an allowance race in May and later finished second in the French Oaks on June 16, won Saturday’s $524,000 Irish Oaks at The Curragh, her first career win in her fourth start.
Meandre, sixth in the Dubai World Cup behind Animal Kingdom in March, faces a stern test in an attempt to defend his title in Sunday’s Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin at Hoppegarten Racecourse in Germany.
Epsom Oaks winner Talent and Ribblesdale Stakes winner Riposte head an eight-horse field entered in Saturday’s Group 1, $303,688 Irish Oaks at The Curragh.
Four-year-old Lethal Force won only once in his first nine starts during 2011 and 2012, but he has figured things out now. Winning his second straight Group 1 on Saturday, Lethal Force staked a claim as Europe’s best sprinter with a front-running, 1 1/2-length victory in the $815,000 July Cup at Newmarket in England.
