Another year at Royal Ascot and another major upset by Khaadem.
Last year, Khaadem ($148.90) was the unexpected winner of the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at six furlongs. On Saturday, Khaadem won the same race again, but this time paid just $34.60.
Between those victories, the 8-year-old gelding was winless in four Group 1 or Group 2 sprints in Britain.
After training Auguste Rodin to win the featured Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday and Kyprios in the featured Gold Cup on Thursday, an O’Brien saddled Porta Fortuna to win the featured Group 1 Coronation Stakes on Friday at Royal Ascot.
But for the first time this week, it was not Aidan O’Brien winning a major race. Porta Fortuna resides in the yard of O’Brien’s son, Donnacha, and she ran down the Aidan O’Brien-trained Opera Singer to capture the Coronation by one length.
In each of his completed seasons, Do Deuce has won a Grade 1 race in Japan.
The collection of major titles includes the Asahi Hai Futurity at 2 in 2021, the 2022 Japanese Derby, and the Arima Kinen last December.
Do Deuce can add another Grade 1 win to his career achievements if he performs to expectations in Sunday’s $2.65 million Takarazuka Kinen at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Kyoto Racecourse.
The Takarazuka Kinen is the final Grade 1 race in the first half of the year in Japan. The next Grade 1 race, the Sprinters Stakes, will be run in late September.
There will not be a strong favorite among the 14 runners in Saturday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, the final top-level race of the famous five-day racing festival in England.
Instead, the $1.26 million Jubilee Stakes is a fantastic betting race, with several runners capable of capturing the richest sprint prize of the week on a straightaway course.
The 2024 season truly began for the all-star Auguste Rodin in Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in Britain.
After finishing a disappointing last of 12 in the Group 1 Sheema Classic in Dubai in March and a well-beaten second in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland last month, Auguste Rodin fought off a late threat from the French longshot Zarakem to win the $1.26 million Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles for his first victory since the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita last November.
The 3-year-old filly Elmalka won the English 1000 Guineas at overlaid odds of 29-1, and thanks to the presence of Opera Singer could offer a fair price again Friday at Ascot in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes.
The Coronation, a one-turn mile for 3-year-old fillies, takes top billing on Day 4 of the Royal meeting, with the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-olds at six furlongs a strong supporting feature. Also carded are a pair of Group 2s, the King Edward for 3-year-olds at 1 1/2 miles and the Albany Stakes, a 2-year-old sprint that includes the Wesley Ward-trained Burning Pine.
Charyn got the 2024 Royal Ascot meeting off to a flying start with a powerhouse victory in the Queen Anne Stakes, and the Australian mare Asfoora provided a rousing follow-up two races later in the King Charles III Stakes.
Rosallion backed up his Irish 2000 Guineas victory with a good win over Henry Longfellow on Tuesday’s third Group 1, the St. James’s Palace Stakes. The announced attendance was 43,791, up from 41,848 in 2023.
North America has no real racing program for turf stayers, horses that want to run 1 3/4 miles or longer, and that is why the Thursday Gold Cup Day program each year at Royal Ascot holds less interest on the west side of the Atlantic than the east. The lone Group 1 on the card, it is contested at 2 1/2 miles, a long race even by European staying standards.
The Gold Cup is a long race with a long history.
The last time Auguste Rodin and Inspiral won they unveiled two of the most dynamic performances hours apart in Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita last November.
Both are winless in limited campaigns in Europe and the Middle East this year in advance of their first-ever meeting in Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Royal Ascot, west of London.
