The Queen may not be there every day but racing will rejoice with the bigger crowd representing a huge stride forward for the sportEven with the daily schedule increased to seven races from the traditional six, Royal Ascot 2021 will not be the biggest as there were 36 races 12 months ago. Whether it will be one of the best remains to be seen, though the early signs – fine weather, fast ground and a long list of exceptional horses lined up to run – are promising.There is one certainty before the Flat season’s most glamorous and prestigious race meeting: from Ascot’s point of view, it will leave the biggest hole in their balance sheet of any event in its...
Aidan O’Brien’s colt an intriguing supplementary entry for the prestigious race at Royal Ascot to face StradivariusAn unexpected obstacle appeared on Friday between Stradivarius and a record-equalling fourth win in the Ascot Gold Cup next week, when Aidan O’Brien added Serpentine, the easy winner of the 2020 Derby at Epsom last July, to the field for the Royal meeting’s feature event at the £30,000 supplementary stage.The Gold Cup was seen as an obvious target for a Derby winner in his four-year-old season throughout the 19th century, when turf legends including The Flying Dutchman (1850), the Triple Crown winner West Australian (1854) and Gladiateur (1866) were among the horses to complete the Epsom-Ascot double. Related: Talking Horses: 100-1 winner headlines not...
For over a year backers have been losing out on a daily basis, and no one appears inclined to do anything about itLast Monday was an afternoon that connoisseurs of the unexpected in horse racing will never forget. The 2.15 at Leicester, a fillies’ handicap over a mile, was won by Mick Appleby’s Katies Kitten, at 100-1. Five minutes later, up at Redcar, the six-furlong maiden at 2.20 was won by Ann Duffield’s Runninwild … at 200-1.You should never say never in a sport with its roots in the 17th century, but since Runninwild was only the fifth 200-1 winner in the last 16 years, it seems likely that this was the first time in British racing history that races...
One Aidan O’Brien runner gave this year’s Classic a refreshing look but was a sharp change from the stable’s ‘run everything with a glimmer’ policyAdam Kirby’s uplifting triumph on Adayar, after he was dumped from his original partner in favour of Frankie Dettori, was one of the best and most memorable Derby stories of recent years. Whether the race itself will come to be seen in similar terms, or even as an above-average renewal of our most famous Classic, remains uncertain, to say the least.Few could argue that Adayar was the best horse on the day by some way, a point he underlined by attacking the final climb to the winning post with genuine relish. The previously unbeaten Dante winner,...
Charlie Appleby’s colt has progressed with every run and looks a value each-way alternative to the hot favourite A little over a week ago, a report suggested that Aidan O’Brien could send as many as eight colts to Epsom Downs for Saturday’s Derby. Instead, for the first time since 2004, O’Brien will rely on a single runner – Bolshoi Ballet, the favourite – just as he did two decades ago when Galileo, Bolshoi Ballet’s sire, gave him the first of his record eight victories in the Classic.It could be pointed out that Meath, O’Brien’s only runner 17 years ago, finished last of the 14 runners, was subsequently gelded and then sold to race in Hong Kong. The parallels between Saturday’s...