Trip to Paris, who had to be supplemented into the race, upset the Group 1 Gold Cup on Thursday at Royal Ascot, but it was jockey Ryan Moore who stole the show.
Moore rode Kingfisher to a second-place finish in the Gold Cup but booted home the winner in three of the six races on the Thursday card. That gave him eight winners from the 18 races contested during the first three days of the meeting and equaled a Royal Ascot record – with two cards still left.
Royal Ascot came alive for American trainer Wesley Ward on Wednesday when Acapulco won the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, the trainer’s fifth career win at England’s most prestigious flat race meeting.
Ward has an even greater prize on his mind Friday when Hootenanny, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita last October, starts in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, a $588,937 sprint for 3-year-olds at six furlongs on turf.
The two favorites won the big one-mile races on the opening day of the Royal Ascot meeting Tuesday, Solow capturing the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes and Gleneagles rolling home in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes later on the card.
It’s possible the pair could both show up next out in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes on July 29.
California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, was confined to his stall in Newmarket, England, on Tuesday while undergoing treatment for a foot abscess that will prevent him from starting in Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Trainer Art Sherman said in a phone interview that the abscess in California Chrome’s right front foot had yet to be relieved, but X-rays taken on Tuesday showed no structural damage to the foot.
California Chrome’s scheduled start in Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England was considered doubtful on Monday after trainer Art Sherman said an abscess was detected in the colt’s right front foot.
A dejected Sherman said in a telephone interview that California Chrome did not train on Monday and that subsequent tests revealed the developing abscess. Sherman said he believes that California Chrome bruised a foot while training at Newmarket, England, in recent days.
A fascinating and most unusual showdown launches the five-day Royal Ascot meeting Tuesday.
A year ago, Able Friend had just run in his first group stakes, with the horse virtually unknown outside Hong Kong. Solow, in France, also stepped into group stakes competition for the first time, thudding home sixth in a race just shy of two miles.
So much has changed since then. Able Friend lost his first start of the Hong Kong season last October, but has since reeled off six straight wins, sweeping the three Group 1 one-mile races there while emerging as an international star.
Star of Seville, last seen racing just nine days ago in England, won the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) by one length over Physiocrate on Sunday at Chantilly. The major win came just eight days after jockey Frankie Dettori and trainer John Gosden had teamed to win the Epsom Derby with Golden Horn.
In the June 5 Epsom Oaks, Star of Seville already was beginning to tire after making the pace when she was bothered in the final furlong, fading back to ninth after the trouble, and Gosden wasted no time wheeling her back into action.
Ascot Racecourse in England set out several years ago to internationalize its prestigious Royal meeting in June, and judging from the look of the five-day meeting that begins Tuesday, it has succeeded splendidly.
Thirteen American horses will race during those five days, including California Chrome, the 2014 Kentucky Derby winner and Horse of the Year.
Maurice extended his winning streak to four races with a win in Sunday’s $1,554,918 Yasuda Kinen at a mile on turf at Tokyo, the first win in a Grade 1 for the 4-year-old colt.
Sent off as the 5-2 favorite in a field of 18, Maurice was fifth early and moved into third with a quarter-mile remaining. Ridden by Yuga Kawada for Noriyuki Hori, Maurice won by a neck over the 5-1 Vincennes. Clarente, a 41-1 outsider, was third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths.
CYPRESS, Calif. - William Buick, who rode Prince Bishop to victory in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March, has been named to ride California Chrome in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England on June 17, trainer Art Sherman said on Sunday.
Sherman said last week that he hoped Buick would be available to ride California Chrome in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. The booking was confirmed over the weekend. California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, was second in the Dubai World Cup in his most recent start.
