Royal Ascot: Love is in the air with her return in Prince of Wales's

After Love won the 1000 Guineas in June 2020 and the Oaks in July, coming back in August with the easiest of victories in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks, everyone was eager to see what the budding star filly would do next. Wednesday at Royal Ascot, we finally get to find out.

Love makes her first start in 10 months when she takes on six rivals in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes. As of Monday, the Aidan O’Brien-trained 4-year-old filly was co-favored with Lord North in this historic fixture contested at about 1 1/4 miles.

The field includes a second O’Brien-trained entrant, Armory, who has attracted some betting support – priced Monday at about 7-2 with English bookmakers offering fixed-odds wagering – along with Audarya, who makes her first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last fall at Keeneland.

It wasn’t just the rare Guineas-Oaks double last summer but Love’s wide margin of victory in all three of her races that made her shine, and the same brilliance that propelled her to such eye-catching performances played a part in her long layoff. Love’s the kind of horse who doesn’t want too much give in the ground, and with England, Ireland, and France turning extremely wet late last summer and fall, O’Brien took Love out of consideration for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe or any other start to await 2021. Love’s campaign had been scheduled to begin last month in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, but the weekend of the race brought heavy rain to The Curragh and led O’Brien to scratch Love.

The Ascot course as of Monday was rated “good” and even with a bit of rain should be sufficiently dry to let Love run. The filly, Ryan Moore to ride, gets three pounds from Lord North, and owing to his high performance level and her long gap between starts can use all the weight she can get.

It was in the 2020 Prince of Wales’s Stakes that Lord North, now a 5-year-old gelding, announced his arrival as a major middle-distance older horse. Racing in handicaps throughout 2019, Lord North tried Group 1 competition for the first time in the Prince of Wales’s and won by nearly four lengths, trouncing the accomplished runner-up, Addeybb. Lord North ran decently when third to the mighty Ghaiyyath in the Juddmonte International Stakes before failing to handle a very soft course and coming home last in the Champion Stakes last October at Ascot. Lord North ended his 2020 season with a creditable fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf over a 1 1/2-mile distance longer than ideal and began 2021 with a good win in a modest renewal of the Group 1 Dubai Turf over 1 1/8 miles. He’s a very good horse but Love will take his measure if she comes close to her best 2020 form.

Armory went to Australia last fall and was second in the Group 1 Cox Plate. He began this season’s campaign with a sharp score at Chester.

The Prince of Wales’s is Wednesday’s lone Group 1 on a seven-race card starting at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (watch and wager at DRFBets.com). The program begins with the Group 2 Queen Mary for 2-year-olds over a straight five furlongs, and American horses on Monday were the two shortest prices in fixed-odds betting. Atop the market was Twilight Gleaming, a Wesley Ward-trained filly who debuted with a second-place finish racing on dirt at Keeneland before crushing maiden turf-sprint rivals at Belmont. Jockey John Velazquez should be winging on the lead with Twilight Gleaming.

“She’s probably the quickest one I have,” said Ward, who has won this race four times. “She’s awfully fast.”

Trainer Rusty Arnold, who chose not to travel overseas because of onerous quarantine protocols required for re-entry into America, has his first European runner here with Artos, who ran a remarkable race over the Churchill turf course to clear the maiden ranks in her most recent start. Leading much of the five-furlong trip, Artos lost her position in upper stretch and appeared to be fading from contention, only to find her stride again once taken to the outside, coming with a rush to just gain an unlikely victory.

Sandwiched between the Queen Mary and race 4, the Prince of Wales, are a pair of good Group 2 contests, the Queen’s Vase for 3-year-olds at about 1 3/4 miles, which has the O’Brien-trained Wordsworth as the early favorite; and the Duke of Cambridge, a one-mile race for fillies and mares, with Lady Bowthorpe, second to top miler Palace Pier in the J.T. Lockinge Stakes, atop the early betting.