Paul Lally:
R1: 8-3-6-5
R2: 6-1-5-9
R3: 9-1-7-10
R4: 8-2-1-3
R5: 5-1-12-3
R6: 3-5-2-11
R7: 3-1-5-10
R8: 1-12-5-11
R9: 9-1-3-10
Best Bet: R5 N5 Can’t Go Wong
Longshot: R8 N1 Splendid Living
Play: R3 QQP 1-7-9
Tom Wood:
R1: 2-5-8-3
R2: 1-3-6-11
R3: 10-1-2-3
R4: 2-8-1-3
R5: 2-5-1-12
R6: 5-9-3-7
R7: 3-1-9-5
R8: 5-3-2-12
R9: 9-1-3-10
Blow the Horn, a 5-year-old who won his first graded stakes in January and started in his first Grade 1 race earlier this year, continued his ascension in Japan’s older horse division with a win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Kyoto Racecourse.
The win gave Blow the Horn a fees-paid berth for the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
Paul Lally:
R1 12-1-7-10
R2 9-5-8-1
R3 14-3-11-2
R4 5-6-7-11
R5 4-7-2-8
R6 1-5-2-3
R7 8-5-7-1
R8 1-5-2-4
R9 8-2-3-1
R10 5-2-12-3
R11 3-9-6-1
Best Bet R2 N9 Talents Ambition
Longshot R6 N1 Coming Patch
Play R5 QQP 2-4-7
Tom Wood:
R1: 10-1-12-11
R2: 9-2-1-4
R3: 2-14-1-13
R4: 9-6-4-1
R5: 4-8-7-14
R6: 2-1-5-10
R7: 8-7-6-1
R8: 5-1-2-4
R9: 2-8-3-1
R10: 5-3-2-1
R11: 6-1-9-14
Another year at Royal Ascot and another major upset by Khaadem.
Last year, Khaadem ($148.90) was the unexpected winner of the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at six furlongs. On Saturday, Khaadem won the same race again, but this time paid just $34.60.
Between those victories, the 8-year-old gelding was winless in four Group 1 or Group 2 sprints in Britain.
After training Auguste Rodin to win the featured Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday and Kyprios in the featured Gold Cup on Thursday, an O’Brien saddled Porta Fortuna to win the featured Group 1 Coronation Stakes on Friday at Royal Ascot.
But for the first time this week, it was not Aidan O’Brien winning a major race. Porta Fortuna resides in the yard of O’Brien’s son, Donnacha, and she ran down the Aidan O’Brien-trained Opera Singer to capture the Coronation by one length.
In each of his completed seasons, Do Deuce has won a Grade 1 race in Japan.
The collection of major titles includes the Asahi Hai Futurity at 2 in 2021, the 2022 Japanese Derby, and the Arima Kinen last December.
Do Deuce can add another Grade 1 win to his career achievements if he performs to expectations in Sunday’s $2.65 million Takarazuka Kinen at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Kyoto Racecourse.
The Takarazuka Kinen is the final Grade 1 race in the first half of the year in Japan. The next Grade 1 race, the Sprinters Stakes, will be run in late September.
There will not be a strong favorite among the 14 runners in Saturday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, the final top-level race of the famous five-day racing festival in England.
Instead, the $1.26 million Jubilee Stakes is a fantastic betting race, with several runners capable of capturing the richest sprint prize of the week on a straightaway course.
The 2024 season truly began for the all-star Auguste Rodin in Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in Britain.
After finishing a disappointing last of 12 in the Group 1 Sheema Classic in Dubai in March and a well-beaten second in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland last month, Auguste Rodin fought off a late threat from the French longshot Zarakem to win the $1.26 million Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles for his first victory since the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita last November.
