Royal Ascot 2026: Moore, Lordan play musical chairs again in Coronation Stakes
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The game of musical jockeys played in Classic races this spring continues in the Coronation Stakes on Friday at Royal Ascot.
Ryan Moore, the lead jockey for trainer Aidan O’Brien, and Wayne Lordan, O’Brien’s supposed second, swap mounts again on two very talented O’Brien-trained 3-year-old fillies. Conventional wisdom misinterpreted riding assignments in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and again in the Irish 1000 Guineas at The Curragh.
At Newmarket, Moore rode Precise, who finished seventh as the favorite in her 3-year-old debut. Lordan took the mount on True Love, who won by 1 3/4 lengths.
In the Irish 1000 on May 24, Moore piloted True Love, sent to post an odds-on favorite, but was mowed down in the late stages by Precise and Lordan.
For the Grade 1 Coronation, a one-turn mile, Moore reunites with Precise, Lordan with True Love. The British bookmakers on Wednesday offered Precise at about 3-5, True Love at 3-1. This could not be happening again – could it?
The Coronation shares top billing on Day 4 of Royal Ascot with the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, a straight-course six-furlong dash for 3-year-olds. Moore rides the ballyhooed Albert Einstein, priced at a general 9-2 Wednesday, with Lordan on Charles Darwin, available at about 10-1. Neither, using the market as a guide, is expected to handle the filly Venetian Sun, who gets a modest three pounds from the colts and looks a very smart six-furlong performer.
As for the Coronation fillies, Precise always has felt like a horse with more heft and substance than True Love, who has more natural speed. O’Brien shipped both to California for Breeders’ Cup races last fall. Precise would’ve been something like 2-5 in the Juvenile Fillies Turf but was scratched sick the morning of the race. True Love tried the Juvenile Turf Sprint and checked in eighth.
True Love never had raced beyond seven furlongs before winning the one-mile Guineas, and she seemed the far lesser miler at The Curragh, where Precise came roaring down the middle of the course and won going away, by 2 1/2 lengths.
A wide talent gap appears to divide Precise and True Love and the seven others in the Coronation. Touleen sat at 10-1 Wednesday, third choice in antepost betting. Sixth in the 1000 Guineas, her only start this year, Touleen can improve Friday – and probably will – and still not come close to beating either O’Brien runner.
Venetian Sun, meanwhile, was heavily backed this week to win the Commonwealth, which lured 22 entrants, with Venetian Sun drawn in post position 13. The support is understandable and probably merited.
This filly won her first four starts last year at age 2, all sprints, the last of them the Prix Morny, where she defeated the top-class colt Gstaad. Venetian Sun proved no match for Precise going seven furlongs on yielding ground in her 2-year-old finale, nor did she land a blow in her 3-year-old debut, going one mile in the Guineas.
But trainer Karl Burke cut Venetian Sun back to six furlongs May 23 in the Group 2 Sandy Hill at Haydock Park, and Venetian Sun showed she’d taken a step forward from age 2 to 3. Held up in last as BC Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Brussels set the pace, Venetian Sun breezed into contention midway through, and even as she passed the colt Division and made the lead a furlong out, Venetian Sun had not been asked for anything by jockey Cliff Lee.
Lee never drew his crop as Venetian Sun easily drew away to a three-length win over Division, 9-1 third choice in the Commonwealth.
Among her rivals is the Wesley Ward-trained Outfielder, in good form but no match for Venetian Sun last summer in France, and probably not on Friday in England.
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