Yoshida targets Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Yoshida, who came off a seven-month layoff to win Saturday’s Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, will be pointed to the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes on June 19 at the Royal Ascot meet.

Yoshida is a Japanese-bred son of Heart’s Cry out of the U.S. Grade 1-winning mare Hilda’s Passion. Yoshida, trained by Bill Mott, has four wins and three seconds from eight starts.

“He’s got international appeal anyway, because of his breeding,” said Elliott Walden, president and chief executive officer of WinStar Farm, which owns Yoshida with China Horse Club and Head of Plains Partners. “If you’re trying to win a turf race, that’s the race you’re trying to win. That and the Breeders’ Cup Mile.”

In his first start since winning last October’s Grade 3 Hill Prince, Yoshida rallied down the center of the turf course Saturday to outfinish Beach Patrol, a multiple Grade 1 winner who was making his first start since running second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“He ran a 106 Beyer, came off the bench and beat the best grass horse in the country in Beach Patrol,” Walden said. “Both of them had come off the bench, so I think he puts himself at the top of the list. We expected that kind of effort, but any time you turn 3 to 4 you don’t know how they grew up.”