What to look out for this week at Royal Ascot
Stoute and Ward could be leading lights when five-day extravaganza commences tomorrow
Record on the brink
Sir Michael Stoute shares the record of 75 Royal Ascot winners with the late Sir Henry Cecil. It is a sure thing that Stoute, whose first winner was Etienne Gerard in the 1977 Jersey Stakes and whose 75th was the Queen’s Dartmouth in last year’s Hardwicke, will pass that total this week. He rates Estimate’s Gold Cup for the Queen in 2013 as the best of them. Dartmouth, Mori, Mainstream, City of Joy and Crystal Ocean all have chances. He is 20 clear of the next most successful trainer, Aidan O’brien.
Stars and Stripes in the winner’s enclosure?
Winter in Florida seems to confer a big advantage to US trainer Wesley Ward’s two-year-olds. They cannot all be world-beaters but they should nevertheless be treated with utmost respect, particularly Happy Like A Fool and Nootka Sound. He also brings back last year’s runaway Queen Mary winner Lady Aurelia for the King’s Stand. After Tepin’s win last year for Mark Casse, the Americans are starting to arrive in numbers. Bill Mott, trainer of the mighty Cigar, makes his first visit and Long On Value can live up to his name in the Golden Jubilee on Saturday.
Guineas rematch
There are several heavyweight clashes this week but the pick of them appears to be the Guineas rematch between Churchill and Barney Roy in tomorrow’s St James’s Palace. Richard Hannon has legitimate hopes for a reversal of the Newmarket form in which his Barney Roy was beaten by a length. Churchill had the run of the race and slipped up the inside of his pacemaker. Barney Roy stumbled in the Dip and had to work his way round the retreating pacemaker. Against that, Churchill always seems to do just enough and may have had more in the tank. The other big clash appears to be between Caravaggio, Harry’s Angel and Blue Point in Friday’s Commonwealth Cup.
Security on high alert
Along with all the summer’s major events, Royal Ascot will be subject to heightened security after the Manchester Arena bombing and Westminster and London Bridge terrorist incidents. At the Cheltenham Festival, armed police were kept out of sight so as not to unduly worry racegoers. That policy has now changed; armed and uniformed police will be very visible as reassurance. There will be extensive searches of racegoers, making the actual racecourse a ‘hard target’.
Late chance to join party
If you won the Lottery over the weekend, you can attend the fourth annual Goffs London Sale at The Orangery, Kensington Palace, today. Of the 20 horses being offered for sale, 19 hold entries for Royal Ascot, while the other is a mare with a Frankel foal at foot. These include Norfolk Stakes hope Ardenode and recent Chester winner Armum, who is a sister to last year’s Ascot winner Ardad and is in the Albany Stakes. A late addition to the sale is Joseph O’brien’s Band Of Outlaws, a winner at Limerick on Saturday.
How will Middle Eastern politics play out?
The blockade of Qatar and severing of diplomatic ties by its Gulf neighbours, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is two weeks old but no nearer a conclusion. No one, it seems, is particularly keen to lose face. None of the big Qatari owners are expected to be at Ascot because of Ramadan, which continues until Saturday, so there is unlikely to be an awkward moment with Sheikh Mohammed, one of the architects of the blockade, in the paddock. However their representatives will be there entertaining on their behalf.