World’s elite bloodlines put to the test
Today’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) brings together the elite of world bloodstock in one place as the best bloodlines from Europe, Japan and, in the case of the Starspangledbanner-sired State Of Rest, Australia, do battle for Royal Ascot’s most valuable prize.
While it is a decade that’s passed since wonder mare Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) conquered the world in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f), it was also in 2012 that the then Aidan O’Brien-trained So You Think (High Chaparral) marvelled in the 150th anniversary running of the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, beating the Queen’s Carlton House (Street Cry), who was subsequently trained by Gai Waterhouse to twice place at Group 1 level in Australia.
The Newgate and partners-owned State Of Rest is a current 6-1 chance with the northern hemisphere bookmakers in the five-runner field where he will attempt to add a Royal Ascot Group 1 victory to his elite-level wins in the US, France, and last year’s Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) at Moonee Valley.
Much in the mould of his dual Royal Ascot-winning sire Choisir (Danehill Dancer), Starspangledbanner is a stallion that comes alive at the royal meeting.
His Group 1-winning son The Wow Signal won the Coventry Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) as a juvenile in 2014, while another two-year-old Royal Ascot winner of his is the filly Anthem Alexander, who took that year’s Queen Mary Stakes (Gr 2, 5f).
The former Rosemont Stud shuttler has seven runners across the five days of this year’s Royal Ascot.
“The primary motivation was that for a while we’d had the idea of trying to buy a really good middle distance horse,” Newgate Farm principal Henry Field said of their acquisition of Sate Of Rest.
“The logic was that if we were going to buy a really good middle distance horse, we’d might as well buy the Cox Plate winner. If you’re going to do something you’d might as well try and buy the horse that had won the championship race in Australia and work back from there.
“Fortunately, we were able to secure him with Rathbarry Stud. He’s got all the things we look for in a stallion. He’s a Cox Plate winner, which has a lethal record at stud, and he’s by a stallion who I’ve got a huge amount of respect for in Starspangledbanner.”
The globetrotting Japanese raider Shahryar (Deep Impact) is shooting for a third elite-level win in three different countries.
The son of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) won the Tokyo Yushun (Gr 1, 2400m) in his native Japan and is a last-start winner of the Dubai Sheema Classic (Gr 1, 2400m), the Japanese having dominated both the rich carnivals in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, winning nine of the 14 races open to international participation.
Remarkably, the Japanese have never won a race at Royal Ascot and victory at the prestigious meeting would be a further indication of the rise of Japanese bloodstock in the last decade.
“The question will be how he handles the rise and fall of Ascot’s track,” his jockey Marco Demuro said. “If he is in the same sort of form as in Dubai, the form lines will tell you we have a great chance.”
Shahryar is indicative of the significant investment the Japanese have made in acquiring elite international bloodstock.
He is out of the US-bred Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (Gr 1, 7f) winner Dubai Majesty (Essence Of Dubai), a US$1.1 million purchase from the Fasig-Tipton November sale in 2010, who has also produced Grade 1 winner Al Ain (Deep Impact).
However, leading the home charge is 11-8 favourite Bay Bridge (New Bay), an eyecatching last-start winner of the Brigadier Gerard Stakes (Gr 3, 1m 2f) at Sandown and winner of five of his seven starts for trainer Sir Michael Stoute.
“He is ultra-consistent and has a good attitude. I am very hopeful that the trip will be within his range,” Stoute said.
New Zealand shuttler U S Navy Flag (War Front) possesses the favourite going into today’s Queen Mary Stakes for two-year-old fillies, the opening race on day two, in the form of American raider Love Reigns.
Wesley Ward has trained the winner of this race three times since 2015, most recently with Campanelle (Kodiac), who races in Friday’s Commonwealth Cup (Gr 1, 6f), and most memorably with the dynamite Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy) in 2016 when she ran out a seven-length winner over the 1000 metres.
Love Reigns won by a spectacular nine and three-quarter lengths on debut at Keeneland in April, enough to install her as the 3-1 favourite ahead of Dramatised, who is by former Haunui Farm shuttler Showcasing (Oasis Dream).
Australian interest is also fervent in the other two-year-old race on today’s card, the Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed, 5f).
James Harron went to £160,000 to acquire a two-year-old colt by Kessaar (Kodiac) at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale in April, with the explicit aim of getting to the royal meeting with his ownership group, that includes Qatar Racing, who raced Widden stallion Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
Named Silencer, the juvenile is an outsider for today’s sprint at 50-1, the horse yet to break his maiden in two starts, most recently finishing eighth in a Class 2 conditions race at Epsom.
“I’ve had this thought at the back of my mind for quite a few years, and naturally it had to stay there during Covid, however, now that travel is a reality once again it really returned to the front of my thinking,” Harron said.
“We particularly targeted the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale as it has a remarkable record of producing Royal Ascot two-year-old winners with six in the last six years alone.”
“Silencer is by Kessaar, who was himself a speedy two-year-old, and he is built very much in this mould, as a very powerful and strong colt.”
The Richard Hannon-trained colt has drawn barrier four in the 24-runner field, which is headed by Coolmore’s Little Big Bear (No Nay Never) at 5-2.
Further Australasian interest in the races comes in the form of the Wesley Ward-trained Belardo (Lope De Vega) colt Seismic Spirit, as well as Brazen Beau’s (I Am Invincible) Jumbeau and Kaasib for U S Navy Flag.
Other horses of note to Australians on today’s card include Queen’s Vase (Gr 2, 1m 6f) contender Anchorage (Galileo). The Coolmore-owned three-year-old is out of the unraced Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) mare Vanzara, who is from a deep Aga Khan family that includes recent Prix du Jockey Club (Gr 1, 2100m) winner Vadeni (Churchill).
Australian two-year-old Triple Crown winner Sepoy (Elusive Quality) has not hit the heights at stud that was hoped, but his five seasons shuttling to Darley’s Dalham Hall in the UK has yielded moderately better results.
Headlined by Group 1 winner Salute The Soldier, the stallion has 13 stakes winners in the northern hemisphere from 336 runners, compared to nine stakes winners from 359 runners in the southern hemisphere.
Today he is represented by two runners in handicaps as Hortzadar goes in the Royal Hunt Cup (1m) and Ffion takes on the closing Kensington Palace Stakes (1m). The latter has a distinct Australian flavour to his breeding, being out of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) mare Exceedingly.