‘It wasn’t the week the Aussies wanted’ – Royal Ascot 2023 in review

A first win for Charles, the King of the United Kingdom, a final four winners for Frankie, the king of Ascot, and God knows how many big-priced winners spread across five days, Royal Ascot 2023 proved, as always, to be a memorable meeting. Below, in no particular order, is a brief snapshot of those who enjoyed a good week, and also those who endured a bad week.

Good week
The O’Brien family
“You never expect to have any winner here,” said Aidan O’Brien after River Tiber landed some hefty bets to take out the Group 2 Coventry Stakes as the 11-8 favourite. You may not expect it, Aidan, but it seems plenty of others do. River Tiber was the first of four winners at the meeting for the modest maestro, who claimed a 12th leading trainer title, and for good measure also became the winningmost trainer in Royal Ascot history, usurping Sir Michael Stoute two races later when Paddington marked himself out as the best miler in Europe with a dominant display in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes. That took O’Brien on to 82 Royal Ascot winners, before he added two more to his tally in the shape of Sea Siren’s daughter Warm Heart in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes and the previously unheralded Age Of Kings in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes. Not to be outdone by their old man. O’Brien’s boys, Donnacha and Joseph, also got in on the act. Donnacha sent out his first Royal Ascot winner when Porta Fortuna landed Friday’s opener, the Group 3 Albany Stakes, and then two races later Joseph got off the mark when Okita Soushi scored in the Duke Of Edinburgh. Ending the week in style, Joseph doubled his tally when Dawn Rising bagged the concluding Queen Alexandra Stakes.

Wootton Bassett
He may not have taken the honours for leading stallion at the meeting, that went the way of Frankel, who edged out Galileo due his greater number of placed runners, but two winners for Wootton Bassett was still a significant achievement for the sire. A big-money purchase for Coolmore, Wootton Bassett, at the moment, anyway, seems to have the unenviable task of attempting to fill the void left by the late breed-shaper Galileo. While the aforementioned River Tiber got him up and running for the week, more importantly he provided the son of Iffraaj with a breakthrough Royal Ascot winner. The former Haras d’Etreham inmate went into the meeting having drawn a blank from his previous 16 starters. King Of Steel franked the Epsom Derby form when bolting up in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes to give Wootton Bassett his second winner of the week and, with a much greater calibre of runner at the meeting over the coming years – this season’s two-year-olds are from his first Coolmore crop – it would be a huge shock if that number failed to increase at a rapid rate. Wootton Bassett will shuttle this year for his third season in Australia, at an increased fee of $93,500 (inc GST). 

Bookmakers
Speaking of shocks, what a week it was to be a bookmaker. Triple Time took the opening Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes as a 33-1 roughie, a result which in hindsight was an ominous precursor of what was to come. Of the 35 races, just seven favourites and one joint favourite were successful, with 18 contests going the way of horses sent off at a double figure price, including winners at 50-1, 80-1 and 150-1. The average starting price (SP) of the winners at the meeting was 16.88-1, by far the highest in the last decade and more than ten points higher than the 6.87-1 in 2015, reflecting how many outsiders won. While those massive-priced winners inflated the mean average, even the median price of the winners – the middle SP of all 35 ranked from highest to lowest – was 9-1, higher than anything else in the last decade and double the 9-2 of 2014.

Neil Callan
It can be tough to get a fair crack of the whip in Britain’s riding ranks, particularly at the showcase meetings, where a select few mop up the best mounts while the majority are left fighting for the scraps. One of the more pleasing outcomes from this year’s meeting was the spread of winners – 21 individual jockeys and 25 trainers got on the scoresheet. Bearing those figures in mind, it proved particularly tough to rack up multiple successes throughout the week, therefore massive congratulations must go to Neil Callan. Having won five Royal Ascot races prior to his lengthy stint in Hong Kong, Callan was successful on two of his ten rides at the meeting, starting with the surprise win on Triple Time, and then in nice symmetry signing off for the week with a winner on his last, 20-1 chance Burdett Road in the Golden Gates Stakes.

Archie Watson
A number of big-name trainers (more about that in a bit) failed to notch a cherished Royal Ascot winner, but one man who will remember the 2023 meeting for years to come is Archie Watson. A relative newcomer to the training game, Lambourn-based Watson headed to nearby Ascot last Tuesday with just two winners at the royal meeting to his name and by the time he left on Saturday that number had increased to five. Bradsell, already a Royal Ascot winner courtesy of his success in last yeast’s Coventry, got the ball rolling when the three-year-old got the better of his elders in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes, before Rhythm N Hooves (Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes) and Saint Lawrence (Wokingham) got in on the act. Often viewed as a trainer of precocious two-year-olds, Watson proved his versatility as he added victories in two of the week’s toughest handicaps to a breakthrough Royal Ascot Group 1 success.

Bad week
Godolphin
If this year’s Royal Ascot was one to remember for Watson, it was most definitely one to forget for Godolphin, and in particular their two retained trainers in the UK, Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor. Neither sent out a winner – quite something when you consider their combined tally at the meeting over the years is 53 – with Bin Suroor landing the leading trainer honours at the meeting on four previous occasions. Appleby fared best of the duo with three thirds, compared to his counterpart’s solitary third-placed finish. Indeed, things were so bad for the pair that Appleby sent out just 18 runners and Bin Suroor a paltry five, in his case none shorter than 9-1, compared to Aidan O’Brien and John and Thady Gosden, who saddled 29 and 28 respectively. At the risk of rubbing salt into the wounds, it’s probably best to skate over the Godolphin representatives in the Group 1 races.

Peter and Paul Snowden
“It wasn’t the week the Aussies wanted,” said Newgate managing director Henry Field after watching Artorius finish fourth in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, beaten three lengths by 80-1 chance Khaadem. That’s probably a fair assessment of how things played out, but in particular it is worth sparing a thought for Peter and Paul Snowden. Having seen Cannonball trail in last of the 17 runners in Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes, the colt getting bumped at the start before then never really being able to get competitive racing on the unfavoured side of the track, they chose to hang around and give the three-year-old a crack at Saturday’s Jubilee. Electing for a change of headgear, and with local rider Danny Tudhope replacing Brett Prebble in the saddle, things went from bad to worse for Cannonball as he reared badly and unseated his jockey leaving the stalls, only to be deemed a runner in the subsequent stewards inquiry. A bad week got worse, as Peter Snowden’s flight back to Australia on Sunday night was cancelled, too.

James McDonald
With four winners from just a handful of rides, including three victories last year, ‘J-Mac’ could have been forgiven if he headed to Ascot last week wondering just what all the fuss was about. As well as the rides on leading Aussie hopes Coolangatta and Artorius, McDonald also had plenty of support from the likes of Joseph O’Brien and Charlie Hills. In total he had 15 rides at the meeting, it would have been 16 had the well-fancied Chief Mankato not been withdrawn after becoming upset in the stalls prior to the Coventry. That set the scene for what proved to be a miserable week in the saddle for the Kiwi ace whose four Tuesday mounts alone were beaten by a combined distance of almost 60 lengths. Lumiere Rock, trained by O’Brien, was the closest he came to a winner when she finished second, two and a half lengths behind Warm Heart, in the Ribblesdale.

Wesley Ward
Trailblazing US trainer Wesley Ward has become not only a frequent visitor to the royal meeting over recent seasons, he has also experienced plenty of success in that time. Strike The Tiger got the ball rolling when running out a shock 33-1 winner of the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes back in 2006. Memorable performances from the likes of No Nay Never, Acapulco and Lady Aurelia feature among a further 11 successes from the Ward team since. Always confident, his bullish comments have been matched with performances on the track that have had the bookies running for cover. However, there was no repeat of those exploits this time round, despite Ward being as upbeat as ever. Sending across his smallest team for sometime, just four strong, American Rascal – a daughter of Lady Aurelia – beat only one rival home having been sent off 4-1 for the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes. Bundchen was 22nd in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes as a 40-1 shot, Fandom was 11th in the Coventry Stakes at 11-1 and Twilight Gleaming was 16th in the King’s Stand Stakes at 14-1. The average SP of Ward’s runners was 16-1, the highest ever.

Karl Burke
Ok, so he may not have had a horror show of a week to match others on this list, but you can’t help but feel that Karl Burke would have headed back to Yorkshire disappointed with the results. The trainer’s juveniles have been in blistering form this season, with 13 winners from 37 individual starters, a tally which many expected to have been added to last week. Beautiful Diamond and Elite Status, the latter on the back of a hugely impressive win in a Sandown Listed contest, were sent off favourites for their Royal Ascot engagements, and while the pair didn’t exactly bomb out – they both finished third in their respective races – plenty were expecting better from them, in particular Elite Status, many people’s idea of the banker in the two-year-old division. Add in Dramatised, who was sent off second-favourite for the King’s Stand and beat just two home, it was very much a week to forget for Burke.