Lady Aurelia defends title in King’s Stand

Lady Aurelia and Battaash start nearly side by side in Tuesday’s Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at five furlongs at Royal Ascot in England. The post positions are somewhat fitting. The two have been inseparable in the betting in recent days.

Lady Aurelia, who starts from post 7, and Battaash, who starts from post 9, were 2-1 joint favorites with British bookmakers early Monday for the $714,813 King’s Stand Stakes, a furiously run race on a straightaway course.

Both runners are easy to like in a field of 14. The King’s Stand Stakes will be their second meeting. Lady Aurelia and Battaash were second and fourth in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York Racecourse in England last August.

Lady Aurelia, trained in Kentucky by Wesley Ward, has already had three successful trans-Atlantic journeys, winning the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot and Group 1 Prix Morny in France for 2-year-olds in 2016, and scoring an emphatic three-length win in the 2017 King’s Stand Stakes.

Lady Aurelia was second in her lone start this year, the Giant’s Causeway Stakes for fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Keeneland in April.

Battaash, trained in Newmarket, England, by Charlie Hills, won the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye at five furlongs on turf at Chantilly, France, last October and underwent an operation for an entrapped epiglottis last November. In his lone start this year, the 4-year-old gelding overcame a slow start to win the Group 2 Temple Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Haydock Park in the final strides.

Of greater concern is Battaash’s temperament before the race. Hills told the British press last week that Battaash will leave the paddock later than most runners and will wear a blindfold when he is loaded in the gate.

If there is a threat outside the leading two, Blue Point could be a danger. Trained by Charlie Appleby, Blue Point, a threetime stakes winner, was last of nine in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin in Hong Kong on April 29, but had a wide trip and could not keep pace before fading in the final furlong.

The Tuesday undercard at Royal Ascot also features the Group 1 St. James’s Palace for 3-year-old colts at a mile.

The undefeated Without Parole will race at the highest level for the first time in the $714,813 St. James’s Palace Stakes against nine rivals. Trained by John Gosden, Without Parole won his stakes debut in the Heron Stakes at a mile on turf at Sandown Park on May 24 under Frankie Dettori, who has the mount on Tuesday.

Tip Two Win, who was second at 50-1 in the English 2000 Guineas last month, is considered a leading contender in the St. James’s Palace. He is trained by Roger Teal, who trains approximately 25 horses about an hour west of London.

Gosden and Dettori have an excellent chance to win the Group 2 Coventry Stakes for 2-year-olds at six furlongs with Calyx, who only has to beat 23 rivals. Calyx won his debut by five lengths in a six-furlong race at Newmarket on June 9.

The likely favorite is Sergei Prokofiev, an Ontario-bred colt by Scat Daddy who is trained by Aidan O’Brien and was purchased for $1.1 million by the Coolmore partnership at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale. Sergei Prokofiev has won two of three starts, all in Ireland.