Royal Ascot Beckons For Kempton Winner Water To Wine

George Strawbridge's Water To Wine (Kingman) had impressed on debut at Newbury last month and came back from a minor setback to continue his march towards Royal Ascot on Wednesday.

Sent off the 1-12 favourite for the 11-furlong novice on Kempton's Polytrack, the John and Thady Gosden-trained blueblood sauntered along on the front end under Ryan Moore and when wound up in the straight opened up to score by 11 lengths.

Connections had stated beforehand that the winner would likely tackle the G2 King Edward VII Stakes next month. “He's a very big horse and it may be the best thing that he didn't go to Chester,” John Gosden said. “Ryan was very happy with him and this was a good learning curve for him. We can look towards Ascot with him, which was Plan A.”

 

🚨 He could be ANYTHING 🚨

Kingman colt Water To Wine laughs off a 7lb penalty to make it two wins from as many starts.

He's been given an entry in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but Royal Ascot could also now be on the agenda. pic.twitter.com/HdI1dlOEI1

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 27, 2026

 

The dam, who captured the G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris, is a half to the Hong Kong Vase-winning champion Dominant (Cacique) and the G2 Lennox Stakes-winning sire Es Que Love (Clodovil). From the family of the Prix Jean Romanet heroine Aristia (Starspangledbanner) and the fellow group 1 winners With You and We Are by Dansili and Call The Wind, her two-year-old colt African Storm is by the latter's sire Frankel while her yearling filly is by Frankel's son Chaldean.

 

5th-Kempton, £12,000, Novice, 5-27, 3yo/up, 10f 219y (AWT), 2:20.83, st/sl.
WATER TO WINE (FR) (c, 3, Kingman {GB}–Listen In {Ire} {GSW-Fr}, by Sea The Stars {Ire}) Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $37,914. O/B-George Strawbridge; T-John & Thady Gosden.