Courtesy of Becky Johnston
There are annual events in one's
life that will cause you to take a moment and be grateful for the experience in
a life that is limited by it's duration.
Your birthday, your children's birthdays and holidays are some such
events. For sports fans, there are
numerous annual events that should be taken in and cherished every year.
This week is one of those events
for me. I look forward to Royal Ascot
every year. Just as the NCAA tournament
signals the end of winter and the Masters brings forth spring, Royal Ascot is my sign that the first half
year of racing is behind us and summer racing has arrived. The preliminaries are over. Championship season is upon us.
Here is my Day One Preview:
Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes
The first race of the meet will
kick off at 9:30 AM eastern time, but check in early to see the royal
procession. The Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes
for four-year-olds and up going a grueling straight one-mile is first up. It looks promising for the Godolphin
team. This race was initiated in 1840,
but the name was changed in 1930 to honor the Royal that first established
racing at Ascot, Queen Anne, in 1711.
Horses that have won this race include Whisk Broom in 1910, Warning in
1989, Barathea in 1994 and Cape Cross in 1999. Cape Cross is the sire of this year's Epsom Derby winner, Sea The
Stars.
Last year, the Australian invader
Haradasun won the race over the game filly Darjina for trainer Aidan O'Brien,
but it has been Godolphin that has ruled the race of late. They have won seven of the last twelve
runnings for trainer Saeed bin Suroor.
This doesn't appear to be nearly as strong a race as last year and
Godolphin looks to take number eight in 2009 with a strong hand including the
early favorite, the American-bred four-year-old colt Gladiatorus (Silic(FR)-Gmaasha (IRE) by Kris (UK).
(Watch Gladiatorous' impressive win over
an all-world cast in the
Group 1 Dubai Duty Free)
The son of the 1999 Breeders' Cup
Mile winner, Silic, has won nine of his 12 starts and he will keep jockey Ahmed
Ajtebi rather than Godolphin's regular top rider, Frankie Dettori.
Godolphin also brings the third
place finisher in the Dubai Duty Free, Alexandros
(GB) (Kingmambo (USA)-Arlette (IRE) by King of Kings (IRE). He has run once since in last month's Group 1
Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes at Newbury. He
lost by a nose under Dettori to the John Gosden trained Virtual. This four-year-old colt holds steady in the
8-1 range in early wagering. Alexandros
is also trained by Saeed bin Suroor.
Juddmonte enters Main Aim (GB) (Oasis Dream (UK)-Orford
Ness (UK) by Selkirk (USA) who has odds of 4-1 to 9-2. The four-year-old colt will have the services
of media-shy jockey Ryan Moore, whom it took 80 tries to become a winner at
Royal Ascot. Main Aim's trainer Sir
Michael Stoute never lost confidence in the English champion rider. If this colt, who has never attempted this
distance, can stretch out from his last two wins at six and seven furlongs, the
latter a Group 3 event at Haydock, it will be in large part due to Moore holding him together.
He has ridden him in every race, winning five of eight starts.
The others:
Paco Boy (IRE) Desert
Style (IRE) - Tappen Zee (UK) (Sandhurst Prince (UK) whom
trainer Richard Hannon says will not run if the ground is too firm. The four-year-old colt didn't seem to like
the soft ground last out either when he ran a fourth behind Virtual and
Alexandros. He will be ridden by Richard
Hughes if the ground is to his trainer's liking.
Aqlaam threw in a dud
in his only start of the yeart, a tenth place finish behind Virtual and
Alexandros, did score at this meet last
year in the Jersey Stakes and is likely to improve with another start.
Arabian
Gleam seems overmatched and eight-year-old Cesare has been on the sidelines
for almost a year. The grey
Dream Eater is a Balding trainee and a
Balding usually wins something at this meet. The son of Night Shift has only one win in 12 starts. Lastly,
Mac
Love another eight-year-old who is 0 for 3 over the course but did win a
Group 3 at Epsom last out.
My picks:
Gladiatorus
Alexandros
Dream Eater
Group 1 King's Stand Stakes
For fans of speed, this is your
race. Five furlongs and some of the
fastest sprinters in the world will face off in this race. Many will return on Saturday to contest the
Group 1 Golden Jubilee at six furlongs.
Takeover Target won this race in 2006 and is scheduled to run Saturday
while Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Sheikh Albadou won the 1992 installation and
Dayjur who was second in the Breeders' Cup sprint won the race in 1990.
Last year's winner
Equiano (FR) (
Acclamation (GB)
-
Entente Cordiale (IRE)
by
Ela-Mana-Mou
(UK) is back, but he has yet to
regain entry into the winner's enclosure since the victory in his five
starts. His last-placed effort in Chantilly's Group 2 Prix du Gros-Chene gives little sign that he
will reverse the course and duplicate last year's effort. Equiano is trained by Barry Hills and
ridden by Michael Hills.
Australian
sprinters seem to do well wherever they land and this year's probable favorite
comes in the form of Scenic Blast (AUS) (Scenic (GB) - Daughter´s Charm (AUS) by Delgado (USA). Scenic Blast's sire, Scenic by Sadler's
Wells, has been so versatile in producing sprinters such as this horse as well
as the winner of last year's two-mile Melbourne Cup, Viewed.
Scenic Blast, trained
by Daniel Morton and ridden by Steven Arnold will make his first trip abroad to
take on this big stage. He won his last
race, a Group 1 in Flemington over 21 rivals at six furlongs over a surface
rated good, but that race was run March 7
th. This will be his first start in three months.
Here is Scenic Blast in the
five-furlong Coolmore Lightning Stakes at the end of January.
Armour Propre (UK)
(Paris House (UK) - Miss Prim (UK) by Case Law (UK) has won four
of five starts, all at the race distance including a win over this course last
year, but never above a Group 3 class.
The Henry Candy trained three-year-old is probably looking for ground on
the firm side as he was scratched from a scheduled start at Haydock at the end
of May due to soft ground. Therefore,
the three-year-old will come into this race with only one start this year, a
victory against older horses in the Group 3 Palace House Stakes at Newmarket.
A funny side story on this horse,
his trainer tried to sell him as a two-year-old and in front of the assembled
crowd, he ran off the gallops and into the woods. He did eventually sell to Simon Broke and
partners. He sits at favorable odds of
5-2 to 3-1 and will be ridden by Dane O'Neill.
The seven-year-old Borderlescott (UK) (Compton
Place (UK) - Jeewan by Touching Wood
(USA) didn't win his first Group 1 race until he was a
six, when he took the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at Newmarket over such horses as
Kingsgate Native, Dandy Man, Equiano and Captain Gerrard. He was
third behind Amour Propre in his first start of the year and ran second by a
neck to the consistent Look Busy in the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Haydock on May
23rd. He is trained by Robin
Bastiman and ridden by Pat Cosgrave.
American bred, owned and trained
Cannonball (
Catienus (USA)
-
No Deadline (USA) Skywalker (USA)
has been
afforded no chance by the Europeans, but I'm going to give him a chance. With two runner-up efforts in two of the
States' best turf sprints, the Shakertown at Keeneland and the Aegon Turf
Sprint Stakes at Churchill Downs, Cannonball looks to have found his best
surface and his best distances between five and six furlongs. The four-year-old raced most of his career
around two-turns.
(Watch Cannonball
in the Turf Sprint Stakes on May 1st)
The filly Fleeting Spirit (IRE) (Invincible Spirit
(IRE) - Millennium Tale (FR) (Distant Relative (IRE) made her
last start in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint last fall and ran a very
respectable fourth in a fourteen horse field.
She was running down the hill, around a turn and over the dirt path, all
new things and she hugged the rail with Murtagh aboard like she was attached to
it down the stretch.
(Watch Fleeting Spirit in the 2008 Breeders' Cup
Turf Sprint)
She ran third in this race last
year and she has an outstanding chance to do better this year for jockey Ryan
Moore and trainer Jeremy Noseda.
Tax Free (IRE) (Tagula
(IRE) - Grandel (UK) by Owington (UK) seems to be the most consistent in this
group having won four of his last five.
The seven-year-old gelding won his last start at Chantilly in
the Grade 1 Prix du Gros-Chene (Group 2), a race that saw Marchand D'Or and Equiano fail miserably over the good
going, and running last and next to the last.
He has never won a Group 1 race but he has beaten Group 1 winners. He turned in some poor efforts in this race
in 2006 and 2007 behind Australian sprinters Miss Andretti and Takeover
Target. Jockey Adrian Nicholls takes the
mount as he has done in 31 of the gelding's 32 starts for his father trainer
Dandy Nicholls
The others:
Captain Gerrard has a
Group 3 win over the course but it was in 2007.
Dandy Man will carry
Godolphin's hopes and Dettori. He has
run in this race three times since 2006 finishing fourth, second and fourth, but
he hasn't won any race since April 2007.
Hoh Hoh Hoh has a
ho-hum record with only five wins from 44 starts but he ran this distance twice
at Ascot in 2007 and produced two second-place finishes. South African invader
Mythical Flight won his first seven starts, the last in May of 2007
and has since failed with five consecutive Group 1 events. Perhaps a change of scenery could do the
trick for this six-year-old gelding.
Wi Dud has won only
two of 25 starts and Rievaulx World
has never competed at this level. The
three-year-old Spin Cycle ran second
last year at this meet in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes behind South Central and
while he kept good company last year, he has one race this year in lesser
company but it was a bang-up victory over his elders.
The final entry is that of
three-year-old filly
Anglezarke who
always gives a good account of herself, but her best effort was a Group 2
placing at Doncaster last year.
My Picks:
Fleeting Spirit
Scenic Blast
Anglezarke
Cannonball
Group 1 St. James Palace Stakes
Europeans have a unique attitude
in that most owners that have horses specializing in a distance they don't try
and run them at trips that are beyond their scope. One week after the Epsom Derby is run there
is still a very talented group of three-year-olds that are better at this
one-mile distance.
This race has been won by such
grand horses as Henrythenavigator (2008), great sires like Giant's Causeway (2000) and Kingmambo (1993) and the brilliant Brigadier Gerard (1971). It was first run in 1834 and in 1881, Iroquois
won the race. He was also the first
American-bred to win the Epsom Derby.
Aidan O'Brien sends out three
starters in this race with Born to be
King by Storm Cat, Set Sail by
Danehill Dancer and the star of the Coolmore show, Mastercraftsman (IRE) (Danehill Dancer (IRE) - Starlight
Dreams (USA) by Black Tie Affair (UK).
He has five wins in seven starts with his only two losses coming while
away from the Curragh. He ran forth of
seven in the Group 1 Grand Criterium last fall at Longchamp and fifth in the
Group 1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket behind eventual Derby winner Sea The Stars. A return to the Curragh would see Mastercraftsman take the Irish 2000 Guineas.
Delegator (GB)(Dansili
(UK) - Indian Love Bird (UK) by Efisio (UK) ran second in the Newmarket race, but after
producing a good middle move in the Irish 2000 Guineas, folded his tent over
the heavy ground behind
Mastercraftsman.
Watch the 2000 Irish Guineas (Mastercraftsman, Delegator, Soul City)
Mastercraftsman will
have Johnny Murtagh in the irons while the Poilin Good owned Delegator trained by Brian Meehan will
be ridden by Jimmy Fortune who replaces Jamie Spencer. Delegator
has won two of six starts including the Group 3 Craven Stakes.
Always one to watch is Jim
Bolger. The Irish trainer sends out the
American-bred
Intense Focus (
Giant´s Causeway
(USA) -
Daneleta (IRE)
by (
Danehill (USA)
for Mrs. Bolger.
Intense Focus ran second last year at this meet in the Group 2
Coventry Stakes at six furlongs. He won
the important Dewhurst Stakes last fall, a Group 1 at Newmarket over
Lord Shanakill
who ran second.
Delegator has won only two of ten starts, but has been consistently
hitting the board with seven of the ten races.
Cheveley Park Stud sends out Evasive (GB) (Elusive Quality
(USA) - Canda (USA) by Storm Cat (USA) trained by Sir Michael
Stoute and ridden by Ryan Moore. He has
won two of his four starts including a Group 3 event at Newbury last fall. He has only started once this year and
pressed the pace before tiring in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket behind what is no doubt the best three-year-old in the
world, Sea The Stars. He probably needed
that race, but I'm hardpressed to see him challenging the first three
mentioned.
The others:
Lord Shanakill has but
one start this season, a 12th place finish in the 2000 Guineas
behind STS and being by Speightstown, the jury is still out if he can run a
mile against these types. He was
consistent before the latest start with seven in-the-money finishes in eight
starts, though he has never won beyond six furlongs.
Orizaba is Goldolphin's hope.
He is by Orpen, son of one of the greatest American milers in history,
Lure. He has a Group 2 win last summer,
but his only start this season was in the Group 3 Prix Paul de Moussac, where
he ran third on June 7
th.
Pure Poetry seems to be a bit over his
head and
Set Sail ran 15
th
of 17 in the French Derby, also on June 7
th.
Soul City
was a good two-year-old, having won four of seven starts but has lost to Mastercraftsman, Intense Focus and Orizaba on three different
occasions. His third place finish behind
Mastercraftsman in his only race of
2009 was a promising effort and he may figure in minor awards.
My Picks:
Intense Focus
Mastercraftsman
Soul City
The other races:
Group 2 Coventry
Stakes
Canford Cliffs
No Hubris
Fremont
Alrasm
Ascot Stakes
Handicap
Sesenta
Ermine Sea
Kayf Aramis
Windsor Castle Stakes
Hearts of Fire
Angel's Pursuit
Clashnacree
