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Canford Cliffs won his fifth consecutive Group 1 race in the Queen Anne, finishing a length in front of three-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova, beaten for the first time since August.
Ridden by Richard Hughes for trainer Richard Hannon, Canford Cliffs was fifth early, stalking pacesetter Flash Dance. Goldikova was third for the first half of the one-mile race run on a straightaway.
He burst onto the scene in Australia last fall, winning three Group 1 races in six weeks and finishing third in the Melbourne Cup. Then, he conquered Ireland last month, winning two group stakes with ease.
On Wednesday, So You Think invades England, where the 5-year-old New Zealand-bred horse will be a heavy favorite to win the fifth Group 1 race of his career in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes over 1 1/4 miles at Royal Ascot. The race carries a purse of approximately $650,000 and is the lone Group 1 on the six-race program.
Golden Lilac, the winner of the French 1000 Guineas last month, extended her domination of that country’s 3-year-old filly division with a one-length victory in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly on Sunday.
Ridden by Maxime Guyon, Golden Lilac closed from fifth in the field of nine, taking the lead with 1 1/2 furlongs remaining and holding off a late threat from even-money favorite Galikova, a half-sister to Goldikova, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile from 2008-10.
By Tuesday, the American Triple Crown will have wrapped up, and the cream of the 3-year-crop will be on their way to late-summer destinations and an eventual convergence with the older-horse set. But across the pond, all eyes will be trained on an English 3-year-old, the best-known sophomore in the world, Frankel, whose next stop in a so-far undefeated career comes Tuesday in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Canford Cliffs has youth. He is just 4, and with only nine starts, has room still to improve. He has won four races in a row, all Group 1’s, dating back to the 2010 Irish 1000 Guineas, and with an impressive 2011 debut score in the Lockinge Stakes last month, Canford Cliffs solidified his standing as England’s top miler. But on Tuesday at Royal Ascot, in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, Canford Cliffs, for the first time, runs headlong into the force of nature called Goldikova.
As appealing as Royal Ascot might be to racing lovers worldwide, the five-day race meeting has nowhere to go but down after Tuesday’s opening.
Day 1 of Royal Ascot features the most esteemed 3-year-old in the world, the unbeaten Frankel, who will be heavily favored to win the St. James’s Palace Stakes. That is the third event on Tuesday’s program, but the most anticipated race of the Royal Ascot meet is the first race of the Royal Ascot meet, the Queen Anne Stakes, which pits Goldikova against Canford Cliffs in a showdown of top-class milers.
The reputation of Goldikova was cemented years ago, but her younger half-sister, Galikova, will be out to make a name for herself in the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) on Sunday at Chantilly.
Nine horses were left in the Prix de Diane when the final entry stage closed Friday morning, among them Galikova’s pace-maker, a Freddie Head-trained filly named Polemique, who set up the Group 3 Prix Cleopatre for a Galikova victory in the two fillies’ most recent outing.
He is brash, capable of a stellar performance, and knows how to win.
Frankel, the undefeated star colt of the British flat season, has a name that resonates fondly with American racing fans, and a record that draws admiration from racing fans worldwide.
Unbeaten in six starts, including an emphatic six-length win in the English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on April 30, Frankel will start as a heavy favorite in Tuesday’s Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Trainer Wesley Ward plans to have eight starters at the Royal Ascot meeting in England from Tuesday through June 18, and considers the 2-year-old filly Judy the Beauty to be his best chance for his first winner since 2009 at the prestigious meeting.
Ward has seven 2-year-olds and the 3-year-old filly Holiday for Kitten currently training in France.
Reliable Man’s stakes debut produced the same result as his first two races – victory. The unbeaten Alain de Royer-Dupre colt captured the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) on Sunday at Chantilly with a strong rally under Gerald Mosse.
