Albigna traveled all the way from Ireland to Southern California for her final start at age 2 last fall but has a much shorter trip ahead of her Saturday to begin her 3-year-old season as the favorite in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas.
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A quiet Sunday card at Sha Tin in Hong Kong features a pair of Class 2 handicaps for horses rated 100 to 80.
The 11-race program, which starts with a griffin race for unrated horses, features race 4, a Class 2 over 1,600 meters, and race 8, a Class 2 over 1,200 meters. Both races drew relatively short fields that lack both standouts and horses clearly on the rise.
A three-race winning streak, which included two minor stakes, and a fine record of six wins in nine career starts will make Vanna Girl the favorite in her group stakes debut in Saturday’s Group 2 The Roses Stakes at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Australia.
Vanna Girl, trained by Toby and Trent Edmonds, is part of a field of 14 in the $120,225 The Roses Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles. This will be a distance test for Vanna Girl, who won two listed stakes at a mile at Doomben Racecourse on May 9 and May 30.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien has won the Irish 2000 Guineas 11 times. There are 11 runners in Friday’s belated 2020 renewal of race. O’Brien trains six of them. O’Brien, whose first Irish 2000 Guineas winner came in 1997, is winning the numbers game, but he doesn’t have the favorite to win Friday’s race.
Leading rider William Buick reflects on some of his Royal Ascot successes and looks ahead to the 2020 renewal where his mounts include last season’s outstanding two-year-old Pinatubo.
A week may be a long time in politics, but twelve months is an eternity for a winner-hungry jockey and William Buick will certainly be chomping at the bit when he bids to improve and already impressive Royal Ascot portfolio next week.
Simon Rowlands gives his verdict on this year's crop of juveniles at Royal Ascot, includes his own exclusive sectional ratings for the leading contenders.
Writing a preview of Royal Ascot from a two-year-old perspective this year is both easier and more difficult than usual. Easier in that, bar one juvenile race at Naas on 23 March, the entire British and Irish two-year-old season has been condensed into the opening days of June, and there is no danger therefore of missing anything relevant.
By At The Races
Fresh from celebrating classic glory aboard Kameko, Champion Jockey Oisin Murphy talks to Matt Chapman ahead of Royal Ascot 2020.
Some things stick in racing. Jockey James Doyle, for instance, will always have to put up with people like me mentioning that he was close to becoming a plumber before he got career breaks which now see him considered one of the best jockeys on planet earth.
Mr Cancun has been favored in five career starts in Australia since December, winning twice in that span. The streak may end when Mr Cancun returns from a layoff of more than four months in a handicap at 5 3/4 furlongs at Geelong Racecourse on Friday.
A 3-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding, Mr Cancun has not started since a third-place finish by 2 1/2 lengths as the 5-2 choice in a one-mile handicap at Caulfield Racecourse on Feb. 1.
No one knows more about the crucial trends behind the races at Royal Ascot than Paul Jones, is compiling comprehensive Stats Guides for over 30 races at Royal Ascot 2020.
Coronation Stakes
Group 1 | British Champions Series | Class 1 | 3YO only
Winner £148,000
7f 213y
Last year’s race
