Royal Ascot

Sandal's Song (Mendelssohn) booked his ticket to the Royal Meeting and earned a $25,000 voucher for the trip with a late-running score in the Palm Juvenile Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Saturday afternoon. Making his debut as a 7-1 shot here the colt chased a pair of pacesetters up the backstretch in favorite Squire (Leinster) and Beers On Me (Catalina Cruiser). The chestnut tipped off the rail around the far turn with a three-wide move. Showing plenty of zip down the lane, the 2-year-old cleared inside the final furlong and...

Lennilu (Leinster), who beat both Kadabra (Good Magic) and Chambourcin (Copper Bullet), both return winners in recent days, in her Apr. 6 Keeneland slop debut took another step forward in her stakes debut over this turf course. Partnered by Luis Saez, she bumped into Satisfied Mind (First Samurai) leaving the gate before forcing the pace in the early stages. The 4-5 favorite in a field of 11 took over from Satisfied Mind turning for home and readily kicked clear from the rallying debutante Bibi Dahl to prevail by 3 3/4...

International stars Asfoora (Aus) (Flying Artie {Aus}) and Satono Reve (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) headline entries from six countries for the eight Group 1 races at Royal Ascot. Royal Ascot offers £10 million in prize-money in 2025, with all eight Group 1 prizes worth a minimum of £650,000 and no race run for less than £110,000. Asfoora continued the superb record of Australian-trained sprinters at Royal Ascot in 2024 as she stormed to victory in the G1 King Charles III Stakes, a race she is targeting again this year. Last...

Normandy Coast (Omaha Beach), winner of a rained-off renewal of the Listed Palisades Stakes at Keeneland on Apr. 6, was hammered down to owner Steven Judy for a final bid of $355,000 to top Friday's single-session Keeneland April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale. The auction took place following the conclusion of the final day of racing at the adjacent racetrack. A $60,000 purchase out of the 2023 Fasig-Tipton October Sale, Normandy Coast raced for Red Gate Racing and was trained by Eddie Kenneally to three wins from his five...

Aidan O'Brien will be attempting to repeat the success of Merchant Navy (Aus) seven years ago as he primes fellow Australian import Storm Boy (Aus) for an assault on Royal Ascot.  The son of Justify won his first four starts at two for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, including the G2 Skyline Stakes over 1,200 metres, and was later third, beaten just over a length, in Australia's premier juvenile contest, the G1 Golden Slipper. As a three-year-old he added the G3 San Domenico Stakes to his list of five wins...

In the age of stride length and cadence, stopwatches and sectionals, top speeds, biometrics and all of the other measurement tools out there to judge a racehorse on, one could be forgiven for thinking that all bases are covered at the breeze-up sales.  However, handler Willie Browne, bloodstock agent Ross Doyle and trainer Joseph O'Brien, three titans of the bloodstock industry, say they don't care if you utilise data until your eyes bleed--there will always be good horses that will escape through the net. That is good news for the...

Churchill Downs has scheduled 50 stakes races cumulatively worth a record $26,175,000--a $525,000 increase--for its 2025 Spring Meet, which covers 43 race dates between April 26-June 29, the track said in a Friday press release. The American Turf for 3-year-olds, annually staged on the Kentucky Derby undercard, had its purse raised to $1 million after the American Graded Stakes Committee elevated the 1 1/16-mile grass race to Grade I status. The American Turf is one of four Spring Meet stakes that received purse hikes for 2025 and one of seven...

Mark Fahey speaks about potential stable star Tina's Indian - plus a lively outsider for the trainer at the Cheltenham Festival  Trainer Mark Fahey has revealed that he is dreaming of Royal Ascot for potential stable star Tina's Indian (Ire) (Calyx {GB})-but first, the man who is widely regarded as one of the sharpest young trainers in Ireland is taking aim at the Cheltenham Festival with the battle-hardened hurdler Flicker Of Hope (Fr) (Buck's Boum {Fr}), and is quietly confident of hitting the back of the net. Flicker Of Hope...

It was announced on Wednesday that Ascot Racecourse, the Jockey Club and Churchill Downs have agreed an extension of the 'wild card' entry initiative launched last year that ties together Royal Ascot, the Betfred Derby Festival at Epsom and the Kentucky Derby meeting at Churchill Downs. Last year a runner from each of the GII Edgewood Stakes for three-year-old fillies and the GII American Turf Stakes for three-year-old colts received an entry for the Betfred Oaks and Betfred Derby, respectively. That will again be the case this year, while an...

Last year's King George hero Goliath (Ger) will make his 2025 bow in Hong Kong on Champions Day, Apr. 27, according to an X post by the gelding's co-owner, John Stewart of Resolute Racing. Stewart purchased a majority share in the son of Adlerflug (Ger) after he landed the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard last summer. Geldings remain barred from participating in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. "I am dedicated to international racing at the highest level," Stewart told TDN Europe....

We have seen him race just six times to date and there is good reason to hope that the best could still be to come for the strapping four-year old Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}). Whatever else he goes on to achieve, it would be hard to surpass the delight he delivered for Shaikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa in securing his first Group 1 triumph in the race sponsored by the owner's home nation, the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes. The mind of the colt's trainer William Haggas is...

Straight-track specialist Isthmus (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}) has been handed the G1 Black Caviar Lightning and G1 Newmarket Handicap as targets during the Australian autumn, according to Racing.com. If she continues to excel, the G3 Furphy Sprint heroine will have punched her ticket to an engagement at Royal Ascot in June. The bay won her 800-metre heat during the Caulfield jumpouts on Wednesday morning. She broke her maiden at second asking in a handicap at Moonee Valley in March of last year. After four starts at two, Isthmus resumed...