Oppenheim: Royal Ascot Scoreboard

The world's greatest week of racing, Royal Ascot, lived up to its billing last week. British-based operations Godolphin, Shadwell, and Juddmonte's Prince Khalid Abdullah each won two races. Moyglare, the Aga Khan, the Wertheimers, and Al Shaqab all got on the scoreboard. American-based trainer Wesley Ward hit the target twice, taking his Royal Ascot total to six winners from 31 runners since 2009, and the Australians had a near-miss when their top sprinter, Brazen Beau, from the first crop of Invincible Spirit's son, I Am Invincible, was just nailed by Frankie Dettori on Undrafted (Purim) for Wesley Ward in the GI Diamond Jubilee. It was Frankie's third win of the week, for three different trainers.

But when you add it all up, without doubt the biggest winner of the week was Coolmore. 'The Lads,' with various partners, according to my tally, ran 21 horses. They had seven winners (33%), all ridden by Ryan Moore, who also had two other winners, to break the modern record for winners by a jockey at a four-day–or, now five-day meet–with nine. Five of Coolmore's seven winners were trained by Aidan O'Brien, the meet's leading trainer, with additional support from David Wachman and Wesley Ward. In all, Coolmore had a 7-4-2 record for 13 in the money (62%) from their 21 starters; they ran five 2-year-olds for three winners and two seconds. From figures published in the Racing Post last Sunday, and including partnerships racing in various names, I make Coolmore's earnings for the week £886,532. Godolphin was the leading single-entity owner, with a 2-4-3 tally from 37 starters and earnings of £370,624; Sheikh Hamdan tallied £350,101 from a 2-1-2 record from, I believe, 16 starters.

True, Gleneagles (Galileo) in Wednesday's St. James's Palace S. was Coolmore's only Group 1 winner, but they also won three Group 2 races: the Queen Mary S. (Acapulco, a $750,000 OBS March 2-year-old by Scat Daddy) and Norfolk S. (Waterloo Bridge, by Zoffany) for 2-year-olds, and the Ribblesdale S. (Curvy, by Galileo). The Lads and partners won two listed races: the five-furlong Windsor Castle, also for 2-year-olds, with another Zoffany colt, Washington DC; and the two-mile Queen's Vase with Aloft, their third winner of the week by Galileo. My personal favorite, though (and yes, this is the pocketbook talking) was the Britannia H. winner War Envoy (War Front). He had run in 11 consecutive black-type races since breaking his maiden in April last year, and for a couple of months now I'd been thinking, if they could find the right spot for him, he deserved a win, and, luckily for my pocketbook (which, otherwise, had one of those up-and-down, you feel lucky to break even sort of weeks), he was the best horse in the race, and managed to win it–not always the same thing, as you know.

Andrew Caulfield covered a lot of the sire statistics in his column Tuesday (click here), which were headed by Galileo's three wins and Banstead Manor's Oasis Dream, who had two Group 1 sprint wins via King's Stand S. winner Goldream and the new G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Muhaarar, who had won the G3 Greenham S. over seven furlongs in April.

Coolmore's Zoffany, as Andrew detailed yesterday, equalled New Approach's amazing 2012 total of three Ascot black-type winners in his first crop (Zoffany now has four overall), making him North America or Europe's leading freshman sire by a wide margin (click here). Zoffany was what we call a real 'Market Darling' last year, meaning the market equivalent of a 'TDN Rising Star', but in the sales rings rather than the racetrack.

The two Coolmore Zoffany Ascot black-type winners were expensive sales yearlings: G2 Norfolk winner Waterloo Bridge was a 350,000gns Tattersalls Book 1 yearling, and Listed Windsor Castle S. winner Washington DC cost €340,000 at Goffs. Illuminate, the winner of the always-informative G3 Albany S. at six furlongs, was a £95,000 Doncaster purchase, while Zoffany's first black-type winner, Argentero–who won the six-furlong Listed Rochestown S. in Ireland, was a £50,000 Doncaster purchase.

Banstead Manor's Champs Elysees, a full brother to Dansili but a 12-furlong horse himself, as Andrew also noted yesterday, can boast the rare accomplishment of having sired the G1 Ascot Gold Cup winner in his first crop. He's a third-crop sire, meaning his first crop are now 4-year-olds. This group includes Pioneerof the Nile, Mastercraftsman and Sea The Stars, so Champs Elysees isn't threatening the overall leaders by progeny earnings, though he does now have seven black-type winners (click here) and is establishing himself as a pretty useful sire.

The two leading European second-crop sires by cumulative progeny earnings are Ballylinch Stud's Lope de Vega (sire of the G1 St. James's Palace third, Consort) and the Aga Khan's Haras de Bonneval's Siyouni, a fast son of Pivotal who won France's premier 2-year-old race, the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, in 2009; they are currently ranked sixth and seventh in the combined NA-EU cumulative second-crop sire list (click here). In Friday's one-mile G1 Coronation S. for 3-year-old fillies, in what many regarded as the race of the meet, the Aga Khan's own Siyouni filly, Ervedya–winner of the G1 Poule d'Essai Des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas last time out–nailed Coolmore's favored Found (Galileo), second last time out in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas, and held off Godolphin's Lucida (Shamardal), second last time out in the G1 English 1000 Guineas.

Noteworthy in that heat was the good fourth, behind these three Classic fillies, by the Graham Motion-trained Miss Temple City, from the first crop of her sire, Spendthrift's Temple City, himself a son of Dynaformer. She was sent off a big longshot, but I believe students of form will agree with me that this is a seriously good group of 3-year-old fillies, and that form lines through Sunset Glow (Exchange Rate), and now Miss Temple City, suggest the unbeaten American 3-year-old turf filly Lady Eli (Divine Park) fits right in with these.

Meanwhile, two fillies could line up for this Saturday's G1 Irish Derby, underlining the strength of this division at Classic distances, too: G1 Epsom Oaks winner Qualify (Fastnet Rock) and G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Pleascach (Teofilo), who is also entered for Sunday's G1 Pretty Polly S.

Though Coolmore dominated proceedings by number of winners at Royal Ascot, it was noticeable how prominent a number of Darley sires have become in the statistical tables. Dubawi led the Darley list at Royal Ascot with two winners, including the impressive G3 Tercentenary S. (3-year-olds, 10 furlongs) winner Time Test, but Shamardal, Iffraaj, Raven's Pass, Exceed And Excel, Teofilo, and New Approach all had winners or horses that ran good seconds in top company, and of course deceased Singspiel sired Solow, winner of the week's opening race, the G1 Queen Anne S., and definitely one of the stars of the whole show. In 30 races over five days, something like 177 individual horses got prize money; 34 of them–almost 20% of all the money earners–were by those past and present (seven of the eight) Darley sires. Mind you, Galileo had 14 individual checks written. Nonetheless, the Darley sires are growing in influence.

Away from Royal Ascot–yes, there was life away from Royal Ascot last week–Vessels Farm's Square Eddie, a son of Smart Strike owned by Paul Reddam, went back to the top of the North American 2-year-old sires' table (click here) with a one-two for trainer Doug O'Neill in the Santa Anita Juvenile S. Square Eddie had a 2.88 A Runner Index at the end of 2014, and with the results for his 2-year-olds so far this year, that rating's not going to be dropping. Ashford's Scat Daddy moved up to second in North America with Acapulco's impressive win in the G2 Queen Mary (Scat Daddy's second impressive Ascot five-furlong 2-year-old winner for Wesley Ward, after No Nay Never two years ago), ahead of Street Boss, Colonel John, and Medaglia d'Oro, at this still very early stage of the 2-year-old season. Lane's End's Twirling Candy has edged ahead of Ashford's Uncle Mo among North American freshman sires (click here).