Royal Ascot

A contentious G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes is in the cards at Royal Ascot next week, as nine horses have stood their ground, among them John and Thady Gosden trainee Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder). Successful in this race last term, the Godolphin colt faces G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Daryz (Sea The Stars) and multiple Group 1 scorer Minnie Hauk (Frankel) among others. Ascot's dual G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes heroine Kalpana (Study Of Man) is back, as is fellow top-level scorer Almaqam (Lope De Vega)....

James McDonald will once again ride second string for Wathnan Racing during the Royal Ascot meeting next week. The Kiwi-born McDonald earned his fifth Royal Ascot winner aboard Wathnan's Crimson Advocate (Nyquist) in last year's G2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes. Overall, the Wathnan colours were first past the post five times during the 2025 edition of Royal Ascot. "We've got a young fellow from New Zealand who's not too bad called James McDonald on the teamsheet," said Wathnan's racing adviser Richard Brown when asked about riding plans in races where...

Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies winner Liberty Rings (Awesome Slew) will skip Royal Ascot and instead point towards the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs June 28, her trainer Nick Palmer told Gulfstream media Wednesday. "I had a family member pass away in the interim and I didn't want to miss her service, and it takes a lot out of your horses to go over there. The purses aren't really anything spectacular," Palmer said. "Although, for me personally, for my career, it would have been awesome to go and to network and...

Wesley Ward has been the greatest international supporter of Royal Ascot in recent years and the American trainer has dispatched a team of seven runners in a bid to extend his record at the meeting of 12 wins to date. The septet includes G1 Commonwealth Cup contender Outfielder (Speightstown), an imposing individual who was fourth in last season's G1 Prix Morny and has picked up a pair of black-type wins at Turfway Park and Churchill Downs this year. Outfielder and Ez Tin, the Golden Pal filly who runs in the...

"His work has undoubtedly got stronger" is undoubtedly a statement that rival trainers would not wish to hear from George Boughey when it comes to Bow Echo. The Irish and French champion trainers Aidan O'Brien and Francis Graffard won't be running scared as such, but despite the fact they will be bringing their own Guineas winners Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) and Rayif (Sea The Moon) to Royal Ascot, Boughey's scintillating son of Night Of Thunder is plainly the one to beat in the clash of the Classic colts. The unbeaten Bow Echo...

Trainer Michael O'Callaghan has opened up about the emotion surrounding the Goodwood success of The Harv (Ten Sovereigns), named in honour of his late friend and business partner John Fleming, who helped source the Royal Ascot-bound juvenile merely hours before his untimely death back in April.  The Harv was heavily-punted into 5-6 favouritism before making a winning debut in a six-furlong novice on Sunday. That performance convinced his trainer that the colt was up to running in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, for which he is a general 33-1...

Medallion Racing, Swinbank Stables, Joey Platts and Mark Stanton's Cy Fair (Not This Time) will miss an intended engagement in the June 16 G1 King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot. The King Charles is a 'Win and You're In' to the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, which will be held at Keeneland this fall. A Medallion Racing statement read on X Monday: "We have made the decision to skip Royal Ascot with Cy Fair. George [Weaver] felt like she wasn't acting her usual self the past few days. Out...

Wathnan Racing and Karl Burke will head to Royal Ascot with some exciting two-year-olds and Monday's action at Carlisle saw Light Of Dawn (Showcasing) add her name to the list. The victory follows a brace of winners for the Wathnan operation at Churchill Downs on Sunday, both of whom - Sneakily (Tapit) and Leading Change (Gun Runner) - were subsequently named 'TDN Rising Stars, presented by Hagyard'. Sent off the 5-6 favourite for the near-six-furlong novice, the €625,000 Arqana May Breeze-Up purchase was settled in rear of the quartet early...

America Queen will aim to put a nightmare Irish Guineas trip behind her with compensation in the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot next month. Richard Hughes was left fuming after his Nell Gwyn runner-up was denied a run in the Curragh Classic on Sunday, with racecourse veterinary officials unhappy with her action at the start. This was despite Hughes providing X-ray evidence to show the Havana Grey filly was sound, obtained after similar concerns were raised by vets at Newmarket on her reappearance. Hughes threatened to boycott Irish racing in...

Donnacha O'Brien can't recall the exact details of his earliest Breeders' Cup memories, but he does have a vague recollection of parading around the racecourse sporting a cowboy hat. That presumably would have been during the 2004 World Championship meet held at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, when O'Brien was just six years old. That year, his father Aidan saddled Mile runner-up Antonius Pius (Danzig) and Turf third-placed Powerscourt (Sadler's Wells). "We've been going to the Breeders' Cup since we were literally kids," O'Brien recalled. "The whole family....

Group 1 scorer Lazzat (Territories) will miss a title defence in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in June after picking up an injury during his victory in Thursday's G3 Prix du Palais Royal. Trained by Jerome Reynier, he is expected to make a full recovery. The Wathnan Racing colourbearer had a busy campaign after his Royal Ascot heroics, finishing second later that summer in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, as well as the G1 British Champions Sprint Stakes two starts later. Second in the...

There can be few crueller blows than Classic dreams being dashed after a winter fuelled by expectation and excitement.  This was sadly the case for all those connected with last year's champion two-year-old Gewan (Night Of Thunder), who suffered a fatal injury in April while being prepared for the 2,000 Guineas. Trained by Andrew Balding for Forz Europe, the colt would have been an obvious prospect for that same owner's fledgling stallion operation at Ace Stud. Gewan's breeders, Charlie Wyatt of Dukes Stud and Simon Sweeting of Overbury Stud, were...