Ghostzapper is seeking his third Queen’s Plate winner in the last four years, and he will have two shots when the Canadian classic is renewed this Saturday at Woodbine.

Other than the Breeders’ Cup, the most international race meeting on the planet occurs each June in the Berkshire hills west of London in the village of Ascot.

Juvenile champion Shanghai Bobby, who stands for the international Coolmore operation, is already developing a reputation as an international sire for that outfit.

Shanghai Bobby, who is based at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, was represented by a second-crop winner at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting last week in England, as his daughter Shang Shang Shang defeated males in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes.

Multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Vyjack has been retired from racing and has returned to breeders Craig and Carrie Brogden at Machmer Hall in Paris, Ky. – at least, for now. Carrie Brogden says the gelding could be re-homed for a second career following some time off.

Canadian champion Uncaptured got his own racing career off to a swift start, with a stellar season as a juvenile. Now a young stallion at Ocala Stud, he is rapidly earning a reputation for passing that precociousness on to his progeny.

Two successful stallions from two of the world’s most prominent breeding and racing programs have continued to make their mark at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting over the past week – and have continued to bolster the legacies of their respective sires for another titan of the industry.

A dream year for breeders John and Tanya Gunther continued as Without Parole carried their colors to victory in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes on the opening day of the Royal Ascot meeting.

Aheadbyacentury
Midnight Lute – Sunful, by Touch Gold
Bred in Ontario by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms ($51,121 purchase by John Ross, agent, at 2016 Canadian September yearling sale)

Aheadbyacentury, a stakes-winning juvenile who has continued to acquit himself well in his sophomore season, is from a sire line that has proven successful in Canada and from a prominent female family.

The euthanization of Smart Strike due to laminitis on March 25, 2015 brought to an end a magnificent stud career that included two North American sire championships, but his best days were already in the rear-view mirror.

ROSE’S VISION
Artie Schiller-Essential Rose, by Bernardini
(Bred in Ontario by Chiefswood Stable)

Rose’s Vision punched his ticket to the Queen’s Plate with a strong performance as a longshot in the Plate Trial, finishing second to favored Telekinesis. The Artie Schiller colt, a third-generation homebred for Chiefswood Stable, is from a family that has consistently found stakes success.