Aidan O’Brien has trained the winner of the Irish Derby for six years in a row, and among his three entrants for this year’s edition of the race is Camelot, currently the leading 3-year-old in Europe by a vast margin. The calculus seems crystal-clear: Camelot will win Saturday evening’s Group 1 race at The Curragh.
Black Caviar’s narrow victory in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday at Royal Ascot came despite the mare racing with muscle injuries, it was discovered Sunday. But immediate post-race speculation about imminent retirement was premature, with Black Caviar’s connections now contemplating another campaign this fall.
Major stakes on three continents on Saturday and Sunday offered automatic berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita in November, but it was uncertain whether two of the winners would travel to the United States this fall.
Black Caviar remained undefeated winning the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday, closing day at Royal Ascot. Of that there can be no dispute. The devil is in the details, though.
Nearly a year of frustrating results ended emphatically on Friday when Fallen for You won her first stakes in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Royal Ascot.
Orfevre, the winner of the 2011 Japanese Triple Crown, is finding racing more difficult as a 4-year-old this year. Winless in his first two starts of the season, Orfevre is part of Sunday’s $3.4 million Orfevre over about 1 3/8 miles on turf at Hanshin Racecourse.
Frankel held up his end of the bargain, delivering a sensational win in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes on opening day of the Royal Ascot meet. Now it is Black Caviar’s turn, as the second international racing superstar to grace the Ascot meeting takes to the track in the closing-day Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday.
The 10th Group 1 stakes win by So You Think in Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot was part of a family day for trainer Aidan O’Brien. His son Joseph won his first career race at Royal Ascot aboard So You Think, who won by 2 1/4 lengths as the 4-5 favorite, edging Carlton House, owned by the Queen of England.
The Group 1 Gold Cup, a 2 1/2-mile race, headlines Thursday’s action at Royal Ascot, with Fame and Glory widely expected to win for the second year in a row.
Frankel started in the first race of the 2012 Royal Ascot season Tuesday, the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, and quickly put his indelible stamp on the five-day meeting, storming to an 11-length victory over Excelebration. The Queen Anne probably was the best race of Frankel’s illustrious career and certainly ranks among the top one-mile performance seen anywhere in a long, long time.
