By Tom Frary
From four runners at this year's Royal Ascot, Harry Eustace now boasts a pair of Group 1 winners as the filly Time For Sandals (Sands Of Mali) followed on from stablemate Docklands in Friday's G1 Commonwealth Cup. Drawn widest in one, the 25-1 shot who had been edged out by Woodshauna (Wooded) in Chantilly's G3 Prix Texanita last month was forced to stay in the group up the centre racing away from the main pack.
Driven clear of her neighbours inside the final furlong by Richard Kingscote, the bargain €35,000 Tattersalls Ireland September graduate had two dangers towards the stand's side as the season's French sprinting form came to the fore. At the line, there was a neck between the filly and the G3 Prix Sigy winner Arizona Blaze (Sergei Prokofiev), with half a length between him and the Listed Prix Marchand d'Or winner Rayevka (Blue Point) in third. The 6-4 favourite Shadow Of Light (Lope De Vega) was fifth.
“It's been extraordinary–it's all down the team at home and all the little things they do, I can't thank them enough,” commented Eustace, in the remarkable position of greeting a second Group 1 winner at the meeting just three days after the yard's momentous Queen Anne triumph. “It went really smoothly–the most concerning part was the draw but it's the first time she's had a fast horse to follow and we were very confident we hadn't seen the best of her.”
Time For Sandals's breakthrough moment comes just under a year after her smooth winning debut on Kempton's Polytrack, after which she ran a close third in Newbury's valuable five-furlong Weatherbys Super Sprint and finished runner-up in York's G2 Lowther Stakes. Third on her 3-year-old bow tackling seven furlongs in Newbury's G3 Fred Darling Stakes, she was run down late in the Texanita by Woodshauna whose absence from this must have been keenly felt by Rayevka's trainer Francis-Henri Graffard in the aftermath.
This looked a deeply competitive renewal, with the juvenile Group 1 winners Shadow Of Light, Babouche (Kodiac) and Whistlejacket (No Nay Never) all primed and ready along with the well-supported Classic-placed Jonquil (Lope De Vega), but it was Time For Sandals who ultimately had the answers with no hint of fluke. Breaking from the same stall as the Albany winner Venetian Sun, she enjoyed an ideal lead from Shisospicy (Mitole) before cutting loose and hitting the line in 1:12.03, second only to Advertise in this race since it was introduced in 2015.
Eustace, whose runners at the meeting other than the flag-bearer Docklands were the Britannia Handicap runner-up La Botte and Divine Comedy who was beaten under two lengths in fifth in Tuesday's Ascot Stakes, was in dreamland as he conjured words from his sore throat. “We were always confident that a race like this was really what she needed–don't get me wrong, we didn't dream we would get here, but she's always been pretty good.” he said.
Kingscote added, “Newbury was a test to see where we would go for the year and what sort of trip she wanted and she didn't quite get home–in France she was left alone in front for a bit too long and even today she travelled very strongly. We've learnt about her and she's learnt about racing with each run and has improved–she did a fantastic piece of work a couple of weeks ago, so I was hopeful today.”
Harry's father James, who had captured the 1998 Royal Hunt Cup here with Refuse To Lose, was on hand to witness the week of weeks for his son. “It is like magic, like a dream–it has been absolutely superb,” he said. The two boys [Harry and David] are competitive and David obviously did really well in Australia, so he now has to emulate his uncle, who did train a Royal Ascot winner from Hong Kong in Cape Of Good Hope and Harry has to try and win a Melbourne Cup!”
Arizona Blaze ran another honest race in defeat and trainer Adrian Murray said of the runner-up, “It was a big run. He never runs a bad race and always turns up on the day. When he came home the last time, he was a little bit flat and not himself, so he was probably a little under the weather when he ran. We put that behind us and were very confident of a good run. I couldn't believe the price! We are most likely to go for the Nunthorpe. He is entered in the July Cup, as well, but probably the Nunthorpe.”
Rayevka was possibly the race's hard-luck story, having covered a greater amount of ground than the winner after being switched to race up the stand's rail. “This is a filly we need to switch off–we have no choice and she is still learning how to race,” Francis-Henri Graffard explained. “Unfortunately, we didn't have one to take her a little bit further in to the race, but she picked up very nicely and it is a very good performance to be third.”
“I always liked her,” he added of the Aga Khan Studs homebred. “I took her to the Cheveley Park last season because I always thought she was a talented filly, but mentally she was not ready. We decided to change tactics completely in her last run and see what she could do and she was very convincing that day. She is entered in the Prix Maurice de Gheest and will definitely stay at this sort of trip. She might be able to do seven furlongs, but she will have to switch off.”
Pedigree Notes
Time For Sandals becomes the first Group 1, the second Group and fourth black-type winner for Ballyhane's second-crop sire Sands Of Mali, whose finest hour came when beating his elders over this course and distance in the G1 British Champions Sprint Stakes four months after he had been runner-up in this contest. The dam Days Of Summer (Bachelor Duke) is a daughter of the G1 Phoenix Stakes heroine Pharaoh's Delight (Fairy King), responsible for the-winning Pharmacist (Machiavellian) who is in turn the dam of four Stakes winners headed by the GI Breeders' Cup Turf hero Red Rocks (Galileo).
Also related to Wednesday's Listed Windsor Castle Stakes third Azizam (Havana Grey), Days Of Summer's unraced 2-year-old filly by Soldier's Call named Darling Gracie was a bargain 15,000gns purchase at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale and is in training with Adrian Nicholls. She also has a yearling full-sister to Time For Sandals to follow.
Friday, Royal Ascot, Britain
COMMONWEALTH CUP-G1, £725,750, Royal Ascot, 6-20, 3yo, 6fT, 1:12.03, g/f.
1–TIME FOR SANDALS (IRE), 125, f, 3, by Sands Of Mali (Fr)
1st Dam: Days Of Summer (Ire), by Bachelor Duke
2nd Dam: Pharaoh's Delight, by Fairy King
3rd Dam: Ridge The Times, by Riva Ridge
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN, 1ST GROUP 1 WIN.
(€35,000 Ylg '23 TATIRY). O-Mr D Bevan and Mrs D Bevan;
B-Ballyhane; T-Harry Eustace; J-Richard Kingscote. £411,573.
Lifetime Record: GSP-Fr, 6-2-2-2, $692,836. Werk Nick Rating:
A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Arizona Blaze (GB), 128, c, 3, Sergei Prokofiev–Liberisque
(GB), by Equiano (Fr). (36,000gns Wlg '22 TADEWE; £82,000
Ylg '23 GOFFUK). O-AMO Racing Limited & Giselle De Aguiar;
B-Andrew Bengough & Partners; T-Adrian Murray. £156,036.
3–Rayevka (Ire), 125, f, 3, Blue Point (Ire)–Rayisa (Ire), by Holy
Roman Emperor (Ire). TDN Rising Star. 1ST GROUP BLACK
TYPE, 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. O-Aga Khan Studs SCEA;
B-His Highness The Aga Khan's Studs SC; T-Francis-Henri
Graffard. £78,091.
Margins: NK, HF, HF. Odds: 25.00, 28.00, 20.00.
Also Ran: Sayidah Dariyan (Ire), Shadow Of Light (GB), Whistlejacket (Ire), Big Mojo (Ire), Sky Majesty (Ire), Ain't Nobody (Ire), Arabie (GB), Strong Warrior (GB), Arabian Dusk (GB), Jonquil (GB), Berkshire Whisper (Ire), Shisospicy, Ides Of March (Ire), Carla Ridge (Ire), Lady With The Lamp (Ire), Soldier's Heart (GB), Babouche (GB), Diablo Rojo (Ire). Scratched: Leovanni (Ire).
TIME FOR SANDALS TAKES THE COMMONWEALTH CUP CROWN! #ROYALASCOT pic.twitter.com/OlkklXCLGk
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 20, 2025
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