Trainer Wesley Ward and jockey Victor Espinoza will team with To Be Determined, a filly by Elusive Quality, in Thursday’s $135,700 Norfolk Stakes over a straightaway five furlongs at Royal Ascot. To Be Determined was third in a maiden race at Churchill Downs last month, her only start.
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DRF Past Performances
The 2-year-old colt Hootenanny gave American trainer Wesley Ward and jockey Victor Espinoza a successful start to the Royal Ascot meeting on Tuesday with an easy win in the Windsor Castle Stakes over five furlongs.
Hootenanny, the 7-2 favorite in a field of 25, won the $101,800 Windsor Castle Stakes on a straightaway course by 3 1/2 lengths over 100-1 Union Rose. Hootenanny, third in the Rollicking Stakes at Pimlico in May, was the first of six juvenile runners for Ward and Espinoza at Royal Ascot, which continues through Saturday.
Alarm bells over deserted racecourses and disappearing French racing fans sound steadily these days. Ironically, the French racehorse is in full flower.
Two French horses, Miss France in the 1000 Guineas and Cirrus des Aigles in the Coronation Cup, already have raided England for Group 1 wins this year, and Treve will be widely expected to make it three Wednesday when she starts in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the feature on the second day of the Royal Ascot meeting.
There are American influences from start to finish on Tuesday’s opening day of the Royal Ascot meeting in England, the most highly anticipated week of flat racing on the English calendar.
The six-race program is highlighted by three Group 1 races worth $636,375 – the Queen Anne Stakes over a mile, the King’s Stand Stakes over five furlongs, and the St. James’s Palace Stakes for 3-year-old colts over a mile.
Tuesday’s final race, the $101,800 Windsor Castle Stakes for 2-year-olds over a straightaway five furlongs, has a field of 25, including the American runner Hootenanny.
George Strawbridge’s unbeaten filly We Are was withdrawn Thursday from the Group 1 Prix de Diane on Sunday at Chantilly, but there are three other undefeated 3-year-old fillies among the 12 entered in a race also known as the French Oaks.
Just a Way, the winner of the $5 million Dubai Duty Free at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai in March, extended his winning streak to four races with a nose victory in Sunday’s $2,031,250 Yasuda Kinen for turf milers at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan.
The Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen was the first start for Just a Way since the Dubai Duty Free.
Before Saturday, the reputation of the 3-year-old colt Australia rested on speculation. Aidan O’Brien said he was among the best horses he’d trained. His pedigree, by Galileo out of Ouija Board, was impeccable. But in the Epsom Derby, Australia demonstrated he was more than airy hype.
Always in good position under jockey Joseph O’Brien, Australia ranged up to contend with three furlongs left in the Derby, overpowered Kingston Hill in the final quarter-mile, and went on to a 1 1/4-length victory.
Taghrooda’s group stakes debut Friday produced a romping victory in the Group 1 Epsom Oaks, a first win in the race for trainer John Gosden and jockey Paul Hanagan, who rode his first Classic winner.
Taghrooda, breaking from an outside draw, traveled well throughout the 1 1/2-mile Oaks, racing on the outside of horses from a stalking position as Volume set most of the pace. Taghrooda was full of run with about a half-mile left, tossing her head and asking to be let loose, but Hanagan kept her reined in until the final straightaway.
Just a Way, the winner of the $5 million Dubai Duty Free at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai in March, will be favored to win Sunday’s $2,031,250 Yasuda Kinen for turf milers at Tokyo Racecourse.
A 5-year-old horse by Heart’s Cry, Just a Way has been in the best form of his career in recent months, winning the autumn running of the Grade 1 Tenno Sho last October and the Grade 2 Nakayama Kinen over 1 1/8 miles on March 2. He seeks a fourth consecutive win in the Yasuda Kinen.