Entries for the eight Group One races at Royal Ascot in June are revealed today, with exceptional talent from six overseas countries – Australia, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan and USA.
The potential raiders include 12 American entries, three each from Australia and Japan, plus one from Hong Kong.
Royal Ascot 2018 offers record prize money over the five days of £7,305,000 (2017: £6,665,000, +10%).
Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Communications at Ascot, commented today: “We’re very pleased with the variety and quality of the Royal Ascot entries this year.
“Seven countries, including Britain, are represented, and amongst them a Hong Kong Chairman’s Sprint Prize winner, two US-trained Breeders’ Cup winners and a dual winner of the Group One Newmarket Handicap in Australia.
“One of the great storylines of the 2017 meeting was the owners’ title, which went to the final race, the Queen Alexandra Stakes, with Coolmore just pipping Godolphin.
“With a record 110 entries from Ireland, a large number of them naturally from the Coolmore team, and after the flying start to the year by Godolphin, it looks like the 2018 competition will be just as competitive.”
Click here to view the full Group One Royal Ascot entries
Royal Ascot starts with the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, one of three top flight races on the opening day.
US representation at entry stage comes from Yoshida, trained by Bill Mott and owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club International Ltd., SF Racing LLC and Head of Plains.
The Japanese-bred four-year-old, a son of the 2006 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes third Heart’s Cry, was a comfortable winner of the G3 Hill Prince Stakes over nine furlongs on turf at Belmont Park on October 7th, his final start of 2017.
Mott, who trained the great Cigar, revealed: “Yoshida is in lovely form. He had a great year in 2017 and he won well at Belmont in the G3 Hill Prince Stakes on his last run.
American horses have run well at Royal Ascot before, so it proves that it’s not an impossible task to win there. From a trainer and owner’s point of view, it is something we are really interested in.
The first of the two Group 1 sprints staged at Royal Ascot is the £500,000 King’s Stand Stakes over five furlongs on the opening day.
The King’s Stand Stakes is shaping up to be one of the races of the week, with star five-furlong sprinter Battaash (Charlie Hills) heading the European entries.
A strong US challenge is led by last year’s winner Lady Aurelia (Wesley Ward, USA), who is seeking a third success at the Royal meeting, having also captured the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes as a two-year-old in 2016.
The four-year-old Scat Daddy filly returned to action in the Giant’s Causeway Stakes at Keeneland on April 14th, when she came home second to Triple Chelsea.
Trainer Wesley Ward, who pioneered American Royal Ascot challenges, has also made a King’s Stand Stakes entry for Bound For Nowhere, fourth in last year’s six-furlong G1 Commonwealth Cup and an impressive four-length winner of the Group 2 Shakertown Stakes over five and half furlongs at Keeneland on April 7th.
QIPCO 2,000 Guineas favourite Gustav Klimt (Aidan O’Brien) is one of 52 entries for the G1 St James’s Palace Stakes run over the round mile
Leading French colts Wootton (Henri-Alex Pantall) and Olmedo (Jean Claude Rouget), who fought out the finish to the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau at ParisLongchamp recently, are also entered.
International interest in the St James’s Palace Stakes comes courtesy of Tower Of London and Fast Approach, both trained by Kazuo Fujisawa in Japan.
Owned by Godolphin and bred by Darley Japan, Tower Of London is a son of Raven’s Pass and landed the Group 3 Arlington Cup at Hanshin on April 14th.
Ireland’s champion Flat trainer Aidan O’Brien, who sent out Caravaggio to win the Commonwealth Cup in 2017, is responsible for 11 of the 70 entries for the six-furlong contest this year.
They include Group 1 Middle Park Stakes winner U S Navy Flag, as well as Sioux Nation and Different League, respective winners of the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes and Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot 2017.
A strong US-trained entry for the Commonwealth Cup includes Gidu (Todd Pletcher, USA), a son of Frankel who is runs in the famous colours of Zayat Stables, which were carried to US Triple Crown glory in 2015 by American Pharoah.
Gidu began 2018 with a good second in the mile Group 3 Dania Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park in February prior to a comfortable success in the non-graded Dania Beach Stakes over the same distance at Tampa Bay Downs on March 10.
QIPCO 1,000 Guineas favourite Happily (Aidan O’Brien, IRE) and stablemate September are among 57 entries for the Group 1 Coronation Stakes over the round mile.
Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby has Chantilly Group 1 scorer Wild Illusion and recent Group 3 Nell Gwyn winner Soliloquy among his three entries.
US interest comes from Rushing Fall (Chad Brown, USA). The unbeaten daughter of More Than Ready has proved herself the best of her generation in the USA, taking the Group 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf in 2017 and beginning this year with success in the mile Group 2 Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland on April 8th.
The third Group 1 sprint of the week and the highlight of the fifth and final day of Royal Ascot, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes has attracted a strong international entry.
Australian Redkirk Warrior (referenced earlier) and Americans Bound For Nowhere and Lady Aurelia are all entered in this contest in addition to Tuesday’s five-furlong King’s Stand Stakes.
Further Australian interest could come from Shoals (Anthony Freedman), successful over a mile in the Group 1 Myer Classic at Flemington in November and over seven furlongs last time out in the Group 1 James Boag's Premium Surround Stakes at Randwick on March 3rd.
The Fastnet Rock filly is set to run in the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes at Adelaide in May before a possible trip to Royal Ascot.
Anthony Freedman recently revealed: “Shoals pulled up well [from the trial] so her fitness is not an issue so we’ll go to the Sangster.
The winners of this year’s Queen Anne Stakes, Prince of Wales’s Stakes, Norfolk Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot will be awarded automatic “Win and You’re In” berths into the 2018 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs, which is staged on November 2 and 3.
Credit:Royal Ascot Racecourse