Royal Ascot

Dual Classic heroine Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will no longer take part in the G1 Coral Coronation Cup at Epsom Downs on June 4, according to trainer Aidan O'Brien. A winner of the G1 1000 Guineas, G1 Oaks and G1 Yorkshire Oaks, the blaze-faced chestnut has been benched since August as her intended targets keep having unsuitable ground on the day. She will instead point to the G1 Prince Of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot later this month, as she has not made her seasonal bow yet. "Everything is good...

Group 1 winner Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), who won the G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint S. to give regular jockey Hollie Doyle her first Group 1, is being aimed at the June 19 G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot. The 7-year-old gelding, who is trained by Archie Watson for Hambleton Racing Xxxvi & Partner most recently ran fourth in the G2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands S. at The Curragh on May 22. Hambleton Racing Head Racing Manager Cosmo Charlton said,  "We were happy enough with that for his first...

Cheveley Park Stud homebred Sacred (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) is being pointed at the G1 Commonwealth Cup S. at Royal Ascot. Runner-up in a trio of Group 2 events in 2020, the William Haggas charge captured the G3 Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn S. at Newmarket on Apr. 14, but tired to seventh in the May 2 G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas when last seen. "That [Commonwealth Cup] is the wish at this point in time," said Cheveley Park Stud Managing Director Chris Richardson. "We thought that she didn't stay in...

Ascot Racecourse has received a boost with the news that it has been selected by the British government to be part of the Events Research Programme (ERP) as restrictions continue to ease with regard to sporting events.  The announcement means that the racecourse will now be able to host 12,000 people daily during Royal Ascot, which begins its five-day run on Tuesday, June 15. With the final tier of government restrictions set to be lifted nationally on June 21, there had been fears that only 4,000 people would be allowed...

Breeders' Cup winner Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) will skip an intended start in the G2 Prix Corrida in France on Wednesday and the G3 Brigadier Gerard S. a day later has also been mooted, according to trainer James Fanshawe. "She's fine," he said. "She was just a bit quiet at the weekend, and it's a long trip to France, so that's why we decided not to go. We decided to give her a bit more time. It's just looking at her--she was just not her usual bouncy self. So...

Saturday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas winner Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and his stablemate, G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas scorer Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) are bound for the G1 Cazoo Derby and Royal Ascot's G1 St James's Palace S., respectively, owner/breeder/trainer Jim Bolger revealed on the Luck on Sunday programme. Bolger told Luck on Sunday of Mac Swiney, "As they say in the west of Ireland, I was mighty impressed with him. I thought that he stuck to the task really well--any horse wishing to take him...

Dual Classic heroine Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who won the G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Oaks in 2020, will make her 4-year-old bow in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot, trainer Aidan O'Brien revealed on Sunday. The blaze-faced chestnut was due to contest the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh, but was withdrawn due to ground concerns. It was a similar story when the G1 Yorkshire Oaks victress did not contest the boggy 2020 G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe last October. "I wanted to...

DARRS Inc.'s Extravagant Kid (Kiss the Kid), winner of the G1 Al Quoz Sprint  Mar. 27, turned in his third work at Keeneland Saturday since his Dubai performance, covering five furlongs in 1:02.20 in company with stakes-placed winner Lontano (Street Boss) over a fast dirt track. Keeneland clockers caught him in fractions of :11.80, :24, ;36, :49.60 and 1:02.20. "He worked great. He's doing good," said trainer Brendan Walsh. "Looks like he came out of the race in Dubai good and got back in good shape." The 8-year-old is being...

Entries for the 2021 Goffs London Sale, to be conducted as an interactive virtual event on the eve of the beginning of the Royal Ascot meeting Monday, June 14, will open for a limited number of horses Monday, May 24 and will close Monday, June 7. The sale, which offers the unique opportunity to sell Royal Ascot and international racing prospects, will feature no more than 12 lots that will be promoted to an international audience via Goffs Online, leading up to the event and during a ground-breaking broadcast that...

If you asked a trainer to design the perfect owner, he or she may well come up with something very close to David Ward. His horses would likely agree, too. Ward had two runners as York's Dante meeting and they both returned to Ed Walker's stable victorious. The 4-year-old homebred Starman (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) won the G2 Duke of York Clipper Logistics S. on the opening day, followed 48 hours later by the listed success of Primo Bacio (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}). Both now head to Royal Ascot with Group...

The three principal single Service Armed Forces charities--the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, ABF The Soldiers' Charity and the RAF Benevolent Fund, are the official nominated charity partners for Royal Ascot 2021. Traditionally, the charities have been supported and promoted on the penultimate day of racing at the Royal meeting, with more than £20,000 raised from bucket collections alone on the Friday. This year, they will have a presence across all five days of the meeting in an attempt to raise funds, which have been impacted by the COVID-19...

Under the current spectator cap put in place by the UK Government for its Roadmap out of lockdown, the five-day Royal Ascot meeting will be held with just 4,000 spectators each day. Ascot Racecourse is planning for that eventuality, but there is a slim chance that the meeting could be used as a pilot event that would allow up to 10,000 daily spectators at the venue. Step 3 of the Government Roadmap out of coronavirus restrictions is in place until at least June 21. There will be no general admission....