Miss Temple City packing bags for Royal Ascot

ELMONT, N.Y. – Miss Temple City will make her third consecutive trip to Royal Ascot next month, but the race she will run in has yet to be determined, trainer Graham Motion said Wednesday.

Miss Temple City is nominated to both the Group 1 Queen Anne, where she would take on males, on June 20 and the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge, for fillies and mares, on June 21. Miss Temple City finished fourth in the Duke of Cambridge last year. In 2015, Miss Temple City finished fourth in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes.

Motion mentioned that Miss Temple City would have to carry significantly more weight in the Duke of Cambridge because she won a Grade 1 race last year, but he said it is likely to be the easier of the two spots.

After scratching Miss Temple City from two stakes in the U.S. due to soft turf, Motion considered running her in the Grade 1 Just a Game at Belmont on June 10. Ultimately, the decision was made to go back to England.

“My guys felt confident taking a shot without getting a prep into her, which I guess is very flattering to me,” Motion said. “I hope I can do them justice. She’ll be as fit as she can be, though there’s nothing like having a race.”

Motion said he would get a couple of strong works into Miss Temple City over the Fair Hill turf course, which goes uphill over the final quarter of a mile.