Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Sharing, Quadrilateral meet in Coronation on closing day
And just like that, it’s already closing day of the Royal Ascot meeting, though closing day during 2020 looks different than closing days of recent years.
It’s not just the absence of spectators but the presence of two Group 1 races, the St. James’s Palace for 3-year-olds and the Coronation Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, that have been moved from their usual spot earlier in the five-day meeting. Add to that pair of one-mile races the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee for older sprinters, the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, and the Group 2 Queen Mary for 2-year-olds, and you’ve got a blockbuster closing-day program.
First post for the eight-race card is 8:40 a.m. Eastern. Daily Racing Form is offering American-style past performances for the entire card, has a dedicated Royal Ascot page (drf. com/royal-ascot), and hosts live-streaming and wagering at DRFBets.com.
The Coronation, run around one turn at one mile, includes Sharing, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf to end her 2-year-old season and the May 23 Tepin Stakes to start her 3-year-old campaign. Graham Motion, an English expatriate, trains Sharing, the second horse he’s started in the Coronation. He trained Miss Temple City, who finished a good fourth at about 50-1 in the 2015 renewal. Sharing has 2019 British champion jockey Oisin Murphy named to ride.
In the Breeders’ Cup, she beat Daayeh, who was among the better 2-year-old European fillies of 2019. Sharing, Motion said, is the right type of horse, sensible and focused, to take on an overseas venture, and dry weather Friday into Saturday ought to give her the firmer footing that would boost her chances.
Quadrilateral is the early favorite for the Coronation, and probably for good reason. She won her three starts at age 2, looking like a filly who would be better at 3, and turned in a solid 2020 debut finishing third June 7 in the 1000 Guineas. Quadrilateral, a Khalid Abdullah homebred by Frankel trained by Roger Charlton, ought to improve second time out this year and seems like the type of filly to run at least as well around a turn as down a straight, but is a somewhat short price to win in a race with several options beyond Sharing. Cloak of Spirits, Irish invader Alpine Star, Run Wild, and even So Wonderful stand a reasonable chance.
Two weeks ago, Pinatubo would have been the clear star on this card, but Europe’s unbeaten and sensational 2-year-old champion of 2019 went down in defeat making his 3-year-old debut June 6 in the 2000 Guineas. Pinatubo, trained by Charlie Appleby for
Godolphin, didn’t run poorly, finishing third of 15, but he was beaten 1 1/4 lengths by Kameko, a solid horse but probably no budding star.
Under different circumstances, one might forecast improvement with the comeback run behind him, but Pinatubo carries the air of a horse whose contemporaries might have caught up to him from age 2 to 3, and as of Wednesday night he was only narrowly favored over Wichita in early betting.
Wichita, one of three in the race for trainer Aidan O’Brien, finished second in the 2000 Guineas, beaten a neck by Kameko while clear of Pinatubo at the finish after racing from a forward position. But the pick to win is Palace Pier, who had two easy wins against lesser competition at age 2 and got in a very useful all-weather comeback run June 6, finishing well to win a straight-course race at Newcastle. The son of Kingman is backed by the powerful combination of trainer
John Gosden, whose yard was running hot the first two days of this meet, and jockey Frankie Dettori.
Sceptical is the favorite for the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee over a straight six furlongs, despite the fact he has never run in a group race of any sort. Dettori has picked up the mount on Sceptical for his Irish connections and ought to find himself forwardly positioned aboard a firecracker mount who won three times on the all-weather track at Dundalk, including two runs in March, before taking his talents to turf June 8 at Naas. There, Sceptical flaunted his power through the final two furlongs, bounding away to the easiest of wins over competition significantly softer than Saturday’s.
Still, the best sprinter in England and Ireland, Battaash, raced Tuesday, and there is nothing especially to fear in the Diamond Jubilee. Hello Youmzain, who won the Group 1 Haydock Park Sprint Cup last year, and the plucky mare One Master look logical. One Master’s two bang-up performances in autumn 2019 sprints came over courses softer than the one expected Saturday, but she gets three pounds from her male rivals and has run well on firmer courses, too.
Campanelle is Wesley Ward’s starter for the five-furlong Coventry. She showed enough ability in her American start that she could contend in this straight-course dash, but unless the course profile from Tuesday and Wednesday changes, post 1, as far away as possible from the best early-week ground, could be a real impediment.
More Beautiful, a War Front filly who beat all 15 of her foes making her career debut earlier this month at Naas, was the early Queen Mary favorite for trainer Aidan O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore.