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.
An American horse, Tepin, in 2016, has won the Queen Anne Stakes. An American-owned one has as good a chance as anyone in this year’s renewal, which will set in motion the five-day Royal Ascot meeting of 2024.
Facteur Cheval campaigns for Team Valor International and Gary Barber and is one of 14 set to contest the Queen Anne, a straight-course mile that’s the first of three Group 1 races on Tuesday’s program.
Sparkling Plenty rallied from last, or close to it, and won the Group 1 Prix de Diane by a head on Sunday at Chantilly Racecourse.
The 14-1 shot was racing just two weeks after a three-length victory in the Group 2 Prix Sandringham compelled connections to try France’s Oaks. Sparkling Plenty made her sixth start of the year Sunday, a campaign that began in February and has seen the filly improved markedly since a sixth-place showing May 12 in the French 1000 Guineas.
Get out the top hats and tails: Royal Ascot 2024 is upon us.
The five-day Royal meeting at venerable Ascot Racecourse launches, as usual, on a Tuesday, a daily morning treat for American racing fans through Saturday’s closing card.
The meeting begins with a bang, opening with the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes run over a straight mile. The Tuesday card, the week’s best, features two other Group 1s, the King Charles III (formerly the King’s Stand), a five-furlong sprint; and the St. James’s Palace Stakes, a one-turn mile for 3-year-olds.
One might easily come away with the idea that while Tamfana finished fourth in the 1000 Guineas last month at Newmarket, she was the best horse in the race. Her overall form combined with her last-start performance has Tamfana near the head of early betting markets for the Group 1 Prix de Diane, also known as the French Oaks, on Sunday at Chantilly Racecourse.
First or second in her last three starts in Group 1 races, the 6-year-old Australian mare Bella Nipotina has earned the role of 123-pound topweight in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap at seven furlongs at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane on Friday night.
Despite the favorable recent record, Bella Nipotina has not gained the respect of bettors. As of Thursday morning, Bella Nipotina was a 10-1 outsider in a full field of 18 in the $1.98 million Stradbroke Handicap at seven furlongs.
Paul Lally:
R1: 6-10-2-1
R2: 2-4-8-11
R3: 3-8-5-2
R4: 6-5-9-4
R5: 6-3-7-9
R6: 7-1-9-3
R7: 5-1-9-2
R8: 5-2-9-4
R9: 1-10-12-4
Best Bet: R2 N2 Comet Splendido
Longshot: R7 N5 Astrologer
Play: R5 QQP 3-6-7
Tom Wood:
R1: 6-4-2-1
R2: 2-4-8-7
R3: 7-3-8-9
R4: 7-9-8-4
R5: 6-7-3-9
R6: 9-1-7-2
R7: 1-9-6-7
R8: 2-5-9-4
R9: 1-5-11-3
In less than three months, Scarlet Oak has gone from a debut win in New Zealand to a Group 2 winner in Australia.
On Friday evening at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane, Scarlet Oak will be favored to win her Group 1 debut in the $466,600 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm Racecourse in her fifth start.
