Accidental Agent, who never had won a group stakes race of any sort, won the Group 1, $874,000 Queen Anne Stakes to start the Royal Ascot meeting Tuesday in England.
His trainer, Eve Johnson Houghton, won her first Royal Ascot race and first Group 1, as did jockey Charles Bishop. Johnson Houghton’s mother, Gaie Johnson Houghton, bred Accidental Agent, who was meant to be sold as a yearling but was bought back for lack of interest at auction.
John Gosden first won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1994, and there will a host of downcast bettors if he fails to win it for a fourth time on Wednesday.
Gosden trains Cracksman, the shortest-priced favorite in a major Royal Ascot stakes race all this week. As of Monday morning he was priced at 4-7 in overseas early wagering for the Prince of Wales’s – and that doesn’t feel too short, really.
When Order of St George is beaten, the loss comes in one of Europe’s most important races.
In the last 12 months, Order of St George has won five stakes, including the Group 1 Irish St. Leger last September. He has been beaten twice in that span, finishing second in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup last June – a race he won in 2016 – and fourth in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last October.
Lady Aurelia and Battaash start nearly side by side in Tuesday’s Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at five furlongs at Royal Ascot in England. The post positions are somewhat fitting. The two have been inseparable in the betting in recent days.
Lady Aurelia, who starts from post 7, and Battaash, who starts from post 9, were 2-1 joint favorites with British bookmakers early Monday for the $714,813 King’s Stand Stakes, a furiously run race on a straightaway course.
There is no soft opening to the Royal Ascot meeting, which launches right into full flight Tuesday with one of the best races of the five-day meet, the Group 1 Queen Anne over a straight-course mile.
The Queen Anne has a bumper field of 15, but if you haven’t heard the news, there are no standout milers in Europe this year.
The Prix de Diane – the French Oaks – is among the few Group 1 races in Europe that have eluded trainer Aidan O’Brien, and while the O’Brien-trained Happily is the second choice in early betting to capture the Prix de Diane on Sunday at Chantilly, it’s fair to wonder if O’Brien will have to wait at least another year for this prize.
Royal Ascot fever is breaking out all over America.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, a traditionalist who you might think immune to such a syndrome, has caught a mild case. The germ has extended its reach so far that trainer Tim Glyshaw, often found at Indiana Grand at this time of year, was in England this week being fitted for appropriate race-going attire, including, of course, the traditional Ascot hat.
SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Saturday, June 16)
Brett Davis
R1: 2-6-1-5
R2: 8-1-4-6
R3: 4-5-3-12
R4: 13-8-4-11
R5: 5-1-8-3
R6: 11-5-9-2
R7: 4-2-3-10
R8: 3-10-4-6
R9: 3-7-12-2
R10: 2-11-9-12
Best Bet - R9: #3 Glorious Forever
Longshot - R6: #11 Gameplayer Emperor
Best Play - R9: Q 3/7,12
Simply Brilliant won consecutive starts in minor handicaps at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong in February and March with jockey Zac Purton aboard. When Olivier Doleuze took the mount in a handicap at Sha Tin on April 29, Simply Brilliant was fourth behind Rise High, who was ridden by Purton, the leading rider in Hong Kong.
Purton is back aboard Simply Brilliant in Saturday’s $236,975 Lung Mun Road Handicap at a mile on turf at Sha Tin. Rise High is not in the race, but figures prominently in the recent starts of several contenders.
