SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Sunday, June 19, 2022)

Joseph O’Brien rode So You Think to wins in the Cox Plate in Australia and in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, and now he has trained State of Rest to victories in the same two Group 1 races.

State of Rest gave O’Brien his first Royal Ascot training win and did the same for jockey Shane Cross, who stole the Prince of Wales on the front-end, beating four runners to the finish, including odds-on favorite Bay Bridge. 

History beckons for Stradivarius if he is able to win a fourth Gold Cup at Royal Ascot on Thursday.

He would join Yeats, who landed the meeting’s most prestigious race for four successive years between 2006 and 2009, as just the second horse to achieve the feat.

While John and Thady Gosden’s chestnut is the same age as Yeats was when he won his final Gold Cup at eight, Stradivarius also landed the Queen’s Vase as a three-year-old so he is chasing a fifth Royal Ascot success, one shy of Brown Jack with six.

Last year’s race

Winner: Mohaafeth

Jockey: Jim Crowley

Trainer: W J Haggas

Owner: Shadwell Estate Company Ltd

Age: 3 Weight: 9st 0lbs

Starting Price: 11/8

Season Form Figures: 111

Previous Best: 1st - Listed Newmarket Stakes, Newmarket (May 2021)

By Paul Jones

Leading Irish filly Homeless Songs won’t be racing, but the two American fillies that have traveled to England for the Group 1 Coronation Stakes on Friday at Royal Ascot still face daunting competition.

Spendarella, trained by Graham Motion, and Pizza Bianca, trained by Christophe Clement, shipped across the Atlantic last week and were among a dozen 3-year-old fillies that passed the final entry stage for the Coronation, a one-turn mile.

The Australian gelding Ferago was winless in 10 starts until he was tried at 1 1/2 miles for the first time at Geelong Racecourse near Melbourne on May 13.

The longer races have changed Ferago’s career. After beating maidens May 13, Ferago won a handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Geelong in his next start June 5. On Friday, Ferago is back at Geelong for another handicap at 1 1/2 miles, but this time against a slightly higher level of competition.

Last year’s race

Winner: Subjectivist

Jockey: J Fanning

Trainer: M Johnston

Owner: Dr J Walker

Age: 4 Weight: 9st 1lbs

Starting Price: 13/2

Season Form Figures: 1

Previous Best: 1st - Dubai Gold Cup (Group 2), Meydan (March 2021)

By Paul Jones

Last year’s race

Winner: Perfect Power

Jockey: P Hanagan

Trainer: R A Fahey

Owner: Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum

Age: 2 Weight: 9st 1lbs

Starting Price: 14/1

Season Form Figures: 31

Previous Best: 1st - Class 5 Maiden, Hamilton (June 2021)

By Paul Jones

The only horse anywhere near Australian star sprinter Nature Strip at the finish of the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes on Tuesday at Royal Ascot had no jockey on his back. And even that one, riderless Khaadem, Nature Strip beat home despite carrying 133 pounds more across the finish.

The official second-place finisher, Twilight Calls, was a distant 4 1/2 lengths behind Nature Strip, who crushed his rivals in the five-furlong, straight-course King’s Stand after shipping halfway around the world.

In the salad days of Piggott, Eddery and Carson, equine stars were also two a penny. Brigadier Gerard, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Red Rum, the list was seemingly endless.