Sky Lantern gave top jockey Richard Hughes his first British classic win last month, and she saved his Royal Ascot meeting Friday.
Nearly seven weeks after winning the Group 1 English 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, Sky Lantern won Friday’s Group 1 Coronation Stakes, the top race for 3-year-olds fillies over the five days of racing at Royal Ascot.
The closing card of the 2012 Royal Ascot meet featured the first appearance outside Australia of superstar sprinter Black Caviar, but no such electricity surrounds this year’s final day. The Saturday card is headed as usual by the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes, a six-furlong dash that drew no horse remotely as interesting as the hulking, undefeated Australian mare, though another Australian, Sea Siren, is part of the 18-horse field.
A trio of satisfying winners found the mark Thursday at Royal Ascot. American trainer Wesley Ward captured the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes with No Nay Never; Queen Elizabeth II’s horse Estimate was an exciting victor of the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup; and Jane Cecil notched her first win since taking over the string of her late husband, trainer Henry Cecil, when Riposte won the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes.
Gentildonna, the 2012 Japanese Horse of the Year, makes her first start of the year in that country in Sunday’s $2,834,639 Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse, a turf marathon with a strong field of older horses.
Gentildonna won the 2012 Japanese Triple Crown for 3-year-old fillies and then beat males in the Japan Cup last November. In her only start this year, Gentildonna was second in the Sheema Classic in Dubai in March.
On Friday in Argentina, Soy Carambolo is a leading contender in the Group 1 Premio Clasico General Belgrano over about 1 9/16 miles. The Clasico Belgrano offers a fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Marathon at Santa Anita in November.
In 2012, Calidoscopio won the Clasico Belgrano and pulled a 17-1 upset in the Marathon. Dream Storm, second to Calidoscopio last year, is part of this year’s Clasico Belgrano, which drew a field of 15.
Soy Carambolo was second in the Group 1 Gran Premio 25 de Mayo in Argentina in May.
Al Kazeem caught pacesetter Mukhadram in the final strides to win his second consecutive Group 1 race, and third straight stakes, in Wednesday’s $775,000 Prince of Wales’s Stakes on the second day of the Royal Ascot meeting.
The victory led trainer Roger Charlton to state that Al Kazeem has the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Oct. 6 as an autumn goal.
A half-length separated Sky Lantern and Just the Judge when they finished first and second in the Group 1 English 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 5.
That alone would make their appearance in Friday’s Group 1 Coronation Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Royal Ascot a duel to savor. But Just the Judge made the Coronation more interesting when she was sent to Ireland and won the Irish 1000 Guineas at The Curragh in late May.
The long and short of Thursday’s card at Royal Ascot, respectively, are the Group 1 Gold Cup and the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes. The Gold Cup, for older horses, is contested over 2 1/2 miles, while the Norfolk is a five-furlong dash for 2-year-olds.
Also on the six-race card are the Group 2 Ribblesdale for 3-year-old fillies over 1 1/2 miles and the Group 2 Tercentenary Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/4 miles.
Animal Kingdom won the 2011 Kentucky Derby in his first dirt start, and he traveled halfway around the globe to memorably capture the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March, but he could not conquer his latest new world, England, clunking home 11th of 13 on Tuesday at Royal Ascot as Declaration of War won the Group 1, $311,000 Queen Anne Stakes.
Al Kazeem was a 9-4 choice when he upset the heavily favored Camelot, the 2012 star 3-year-old, in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland on May 26.
When they meet for a rematch in Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, it is Al Kazeem who will be the strong favorite.
Trained by Roger Charlton for John Deer, Al Kazeem can win his fourth consecutive group stakes in the $775,000 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, run over 1 1/4 miles.
