Royal Ascot

A good week for the Charlton family became a great deal better after Tom, who married his fiancé Alana in Sicily last Tuesday, launched into a training partnership with John O'Shea in Australia.  The announcement comes after Charlton, son of multiple Group 1-winning handler Roger and brother to the recently Royal Ascot-winning handler Harry, spent over five years working as an assistant to O'Shea. In his 24 years operating with a licence, O'Shea has managed the careers of many classy types, including Charge Forward, Racing To Win, Foxwedge and Hartnell,...

The Cloudy Dancer (GB) Flash Sale on Fasig-Tipton's Digital platform ended Friday afternoon with a bang as a bidding war stopped the clock at 2:04 pm with the mare sold for $430,000 to David Hutson. On June 20 of this year, Cloudy Dancer (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) 's second foal--Shareholder (Not This Time)--captured the G2 Norfolk Stakes for 2-year-olds at prestigious Royal Ascot to remain undefeated. His victory was the third fastest time in the last 40 years of the race's history. Cloudy Dancer's connections opted to offer her on...

The Sussex Stakes and the Prix Jacques le Marois are likely targets for G3 Jersey Stakes winner Haatem (Ire) (Phoenix Of Spain {Ire}), according to Richard Brown, advisor to the colt's owners Wathnan Racing.  After placing in the 2,000 Guineas followed by a gallant effort to finish a narrow second to his Richard Hannon-trained stablemate Rosallion (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) in the Irish equivalent, Haatem was deserving of his big day in the sun back over seven furlongs at the royal meeting.  Haatem is now set to return to the...

Bidding is now open for the "Cloudy Dancer Flash Sale," a one-horse online auction on Fasig-Tipton Digital. Cloudy Dancer (GB) is the dam of Shareholder (Not This Time), the impressive winner of the G2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot this past Thursday for Wathnan Racing and trainer Karl Burke. Bidding on Cloudy Dancer (GB) will close this Friday, June 28, at 2 PM ET. A two-year-old colt by leading sire Not This Time, Shareholder is now undefeated in two career starts. He won his debut on June 8 at Beverley,...

Rashabar (Ire) rewarded World Pool punters with a Win dividend of 129.90 when landing Tuesday's G2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, identifying him as the highest-priced winner of any World Pool race since it was launched in 2019. World Pool paid nearly 50 points more than the 80-1 SP returned by Rashabar, who also helped Billy Loughnane to open up a commanding advantage in the World Pool Jockeys' Championship with his Coventry win. Riding his first Royal Ascot winners this week, Loughnane claimed 129.90 points for his success on Rashabar...

After lighting up Royal Ascot, a tilt at the Melbourne Cup could be on the cards for Crystal Black (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), with Ireland's reigning champion jockey Colin Keane explaining how the gelding has provided his father "with a new lease of life" after a horror fall in 2021 almost left the trainer paralysed.  The celebrations that followed Crystal Black's victory in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at Ascot went unrivalled as the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate who own the former Dermot Weld-trained inmate burst into song in the...

Providing that she maintains her form over the summer, G1 King Charles III Stakes victress Asfoora (Aus) (Flying Artie {Aus}) could take her globetrotting trip to the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, trainer Henry Dwyer said in an interview with racenet.com.au. With that win at Royal Ascot, a race part of the 'Win and You're In' program, she secured a guaranteed fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Asfoora is the sixth Australian-trained sprinter to claim the race, formerly called the G1 King's Stand Stakes. "The Breeders Cup...

Royal Ascot was tremendous in myriad ways. Sun up, crowd up, and a spread of results which drew in some of the world's biggest owners and trainers alongside syndicates and smaller yards. Then on Sunday morning came the news that QIPCO is to significantly reduce its sponsorship of British racing from next year. British Champions Day will still be run in its name, and the company owned by Sheikhs Hamad and Fahad Al Thani will remain as an official partner of Ascot racecourse, but Newmarket's Guineas meeting, Ascot's King George...

Six winners across the week saw Coolmore, Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore sweep the leading owner, trainer and jockey titles at Royal Ascot for a second successive year. O'Brien received a thirteenth leading trainer award at Royal Ascot and increased his lead as the most successful current trainer at the meeting, ending the week on 91 career victories. Moore, crowned leading jockey at the meeting for an eleventh time, surpassed Frankie Dettori as the most successful current jockey at Royal Ascot. His career haul of 85 places him second on...

In 2023, when Porta Fortuna (Caravaggio) went to Ascot for a shot at the G3 Albany Stakes, which she would go on to win, the other partners in the ownership group tried to convince Mark Taylor to come along on the trip. Taylor Made's Medallion Racing had bought Porta Fortuna along with Barry Fowler, Steve Weston and Dean Reeves after her two-year-old debut win at the Curragh last April, and had already been rewarded with three graded stakes wins, including the G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes, and a second in...

Isle Of Jura (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) stormed to a memorable Hardwicke victory on Saturday to provide trainer George Scott and rider Callum Shepherd with a breakthrough Royal Ascot success. The win was a timely one for Shepherd, who endured a hammer blow when losing the ride aboard Ambiente Friendly (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), who would go on to finish second in the Derby.  Naturally, Shepherd was overcome with emotion after crossing the winning line in front aboard Isle Of Jura, who is owned by Bahrain's Victorious Racing and racked up...

Wathnan Racing's dual Classic-placed acquisition Haatem (Ire) (Phoenix Of Spain {Ire}--Hard Walnut {Ire}, by Cape Cross {Ire}) went postward for Saturday's G3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot lumbered with a three-pound Group 3 penalty and defied that impost in game fashion to register a narrow victory in the seven-furlong test. Haatem was swiftly into stride and settled into a comfortable rhythm slipstreaming fellow Wathnan contender Native American (Ire) (Sioux Nation) in a prominent fourth from the outset. Tanking forward on the bridle to lead approaching the quarter-mile pole, the 7-2...