Kentucky-breds shine at Royal Ascot

On an international stage at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting last week, five Kentucky-bred runners emerged victorious to fly the flag for the “Thoroughbred Capital of the World.”

The assault was led by Eclipse Award winner Tepin, as the daughter of the late Bernstein became the first American-based horse to win the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes. Bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, the mare is out of the Stravinsky mare Life Happened, who is also the dam of multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire Vyjack and graded-stakes-placed Prime Cut.

The juveniles Caravaggio, bred by Windmill Manor Farms and Petaluma Bloodstock, and Lady Aurelia, bred and co-owned by Stonestreet Farm, won the Group 2 Coventry and Group 2 Queen Mary, respectively. Both are by the late Scat Daddy, further cementing his international reputation. The stallion’s top runners in Europe include No Nay Never, a Group 2 winner at Royal Ascot and a Group 1 winner in France as a juvenile, and Acapulco, who took last year's Queen Mary. He also was a leading sire in Chile.

Another juvenile, Brave Anna, captured the Group 3 Albany Stakes for breeder Mrs. Evie Stockwell. The filly is by Claiborne Farm’s popular young commercial sire War Front, giving him a Royal Ascot winner in four consecutive years.

Rounding out the quintet was Tercentenary Stakes winner Hawkbill, a son of leading turf sire Kitten’s Joy bred by the Helen K. Groves Revocable Trust.

Three Kentucky-bred stallions now standing in Europe were also represented by winners at the meeting, led by Lord Shanakill, the sire of My Dream Boat, who nosed out Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Found to take the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes. My Dream Boat is the lone stakes winner by the Speightstown stallion. Some of his more promising runners have come to the U.S. to campaign on firmer turf, including Mister Brightside, Grade 2-placed at Santa Anita, and Great Dancer, Grade 3-placed at Belmont.

Usherette, by Giant’s Causeway’s standout son Shamardal, won the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes. Jennies Jewel, by Kentucky-bred Flemensfirth, won the marathon Ascot Stakes.

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