It was a fantastic first day of action at Royal Ascot yesterday and four course records were broken and therefore a lot of watches were given to winning connections. Barney Roy won the St James’ Palace comfortably and although it was a shame that Churchill failed to fire, it was still a good performance in a fast time. Rajasinghe built on what had looked an impressive display up at Newcastle when winning the Coventry and Ribchester bagged his third Group 1 when winning the Queen Anne Stakes. Lady Aurelia was extremely impressive when winning the King’s Stand, she travelled powerfully and if she had been asked to extend she would have more than likely broken the track record. She will be very hard to beat at York if the ground is fast there.
We ran two horses yesterday and both were third. Global Wealth ran adequately but he was a little ill at ease around Beverley and he did not pick up as well as we had hoped, he was a little keen early which may have contributed to this. Zamadance was beaten by a length into third at Brighton, it was a solid run and he will hopefully win soon for us at the right level.
I have three runners today at Royal Ascot and Chelmsford. Same Jurisdiction runs in the Duke Of Cambridge at 3:40. She showed us more encouragement last time when second at Leicester but it looks like a very competitive renewal. I hope she can step forward from Leicester, she looks well in her coat and it would be great to see her run up to her best. Laugh Aloud does not run but Qemah is very smart and won the Prix Rothschild last year, she was drawn badly on her latest start. Mix And Mingle looks an improved filly this year, Usherette is defending her crown and Smart Call has strong South African form like our filly and shaped encouragingly last time.
Warrior Prince returns to action over ten furlongs at Chelmsford this evening. We have been avoiding fast ground with him and so we decided that tonight’s race looks like a good starting point. He will step forward from this run but he is fresh and well and I hope he can run a good race. The Gay Cavalier won last time but he can break slowly which could hurt his chances around here. Classic Villager has a lot of ability but may be better over 1m4f and has had a layoff whilst Foie Gras is stepping up to 10f for the first time so has questions to answer in regards to the trip. Craftsmanship should run his race and Graceful James showed little on seasonal debut but he has solid Chelmsford form and may be more of a threat than the market is giving him credit.
Khitaamy runs in the 6f Maiden at 8:40. He paid for chasing an impressive winner at Kempton last time and he travelled well enough for us to think it was worth dropping him back to 6f. It looks a competitive race and if Star Catch can come back to the form she showed at Haydock then she will have strong claims. Noble Masterpiece very well fancied at Lingfield but he bolted to post and it was unsurprising he subsequently failed to run his race. Lovely Acclamation and Summerghand have both shown promise. We have a good draw in three and hopefully he can run well.