Author: GC

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Royal Ascot 2018 Review

The ever exciting Royal Ascot is underway. This prestigious event dates back to the early 1700s and with its royal connections and top racing action, it’s a date in the racing calendar that’s not to be missed. Whether on course enjoying the racing and royal ascot hospitality, or viewing from the comfort of your home, there’s plenty of betting opportunities and high points.

Royal Ascot is definitely the most valuable race meeting in Britain, with prize money of over £7.3 million (2018), and arguably the most famous race meeting in the world. The five-day festival features 30 races, including 18 Group races, eight of which are top flight, or Group One, contests and form part of the QIPCO British Champions Series. Let’s cast an eye on some of the highlights so far!

Tuesday, June 19

2.30 Queen Anne Stakes

Named after Queen Anne, who founded Ascot racecourse in 1711, the Queen Anne Stakes is run over a straight mile. The 2018 renewal produced a major shock, with Accidental Agent, at 33/1, beating fellow outsider Lord Glitters, at 20/1, in a driving finish. Interestingly, the winner was the second lowest rated horse in the race, and the runner-up the lowest, according to the BHA handicapper.

3.40 King’s Stand Stakes

The first Group One sprint of the week, the King’s Stand Stakes, has become a popular target for overseas contenders in recent years and, once again, featured runners from France, Ireland and North America. However, Blue Point, trained by Charlie Appleby in Newmarket, took the spoils, staying on to beat Battaash convincingly by 1¾ lengths.

4.20 St. James’s Palace Stakes

The St. James’s Palace Stakes often brings together the winners of the 2,000 Guineas in Britain and Ireland but, while the first three from the Irish 2,000 Guineas did battle once again in 2018, the foremost aspirant from the Newmarket Classic was the second, Tip Two Win. In any event, it was Gustav Klimt, sixth at Newmarket and third at the Curragh, who fared best of the quartet, but despite closing on the winner, Without Parole, towards the finish, was never getting there and eventually went down by half a length.

Wednesday, June 20

4.20 Prince of Wales’s Stakes

The Prince of Wales’s Stakes, run over 1 mile 2 furlongs, was supposed to be a “shoo in” for Cracksman, who previously been beaten just twice – in the Derby and the Irish equivalent – in his nine-race career. However, John Gosden’s 4-year-old, who was sent off at 2/5, was never travelling and could only finish second, beaten 2¼ lengths, behind Poet’s Word.

Thursday, June 21

4.20 Gold Cup

The longest Group One race run in Britain, at 2 miles 4 furlongs, the Gold Cup was won, narrowly, by Stradivarius, trained by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori. The 7/4 joint favourite, who’d won the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot in 2017, was reversing previous form with the other joint favourite, Order Of St. George, on their running in the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup, over 2 miles, at Ascot the previous October.

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Barbaro

Barbaro was a dark bay or brown colt, bred and owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson and trained throughout his tragically short racing career by Michael Matz in Fair View, Maryland. A grandson of Roberto, who won the English Derby in 1972, Barbaro raced just once as a juvenile, beating two rivals by 8 lengths and upwards in the Laurel Futurity at Laurel Park in November 2005. He also won the first two starts of his three-year-old campaign, the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park West and the Holly Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park – both Grade 3 events – before making a successful transition to Grade 1 level in the Florida Derby at the latter venue.

 

The following month, Barbaro recorded the biggest – and, sadly, the last – win of his career in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Stepping up to 1 mile 2 furlongs for the first time, the Dynaformer colt led at the two-furlong marker and only had to be pushed out by jockey Edgar Prado for an impressive, 6½-length win over Bluegrass Cat. In so doing, he recorded the widest winning margin since American Triple Crown winner Assault won the “Run for the Roses” by 8 lengths in 1946. Winning punters counted their winnings like someone who’d just stuck the jackpot on slots,  Online Casino Deutschland style.

 

Two weeks later, Barbaro lined up for the second leg of the American Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, for which he started hot favourite. Initially, Barbaro broke through the starting gate, but was soon pulled up and reloaded, only for disaster to strike seconds after the start. The horse broke down on his off hind leg after a furlong and was later found to have shattered, splintered and cracked bones above, below and at the back of the fetlock joint.

 

He was treated for his injuries at the New Bolton Centre at the University of Pennsylvania – coincidentally, just three miles from the Jacksons’ Lael Stables in West Grove, Pennsylvania – and his broken leg eventually healed, albeit not perfectly. However, by that time he had developed laminitis – a hoof disease, to which horses with broken limbs are particularly susceptible – in both front feet. Consequently, he was humanely euthanised in January 2007. In his racing career he had won five of his six races and earned over £1.3 million in prize money.

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Nijinsky

Nijinsky, named after the celebrated Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, had the distinction of being the last horse to win the three most coveted races on the British horse racing calendar, the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St. Leger, collectively known as the “Triple Crown”.

 

An imposing bay colt, who grew to stand 16.3 hands high, quite unlike his diminutive sire, Northern Dancer, Nijinsky was owned by Charles Engelhard and trained by Vincent O’Brien at Ballydoyle, Co. Tipperary. In his juvenile season, in 1969, he was unbeaten in five starts, culminating with an easy victory in the Dewhurst Stakes, over 7 furlongs, at Newmarket, when ridden for the first time by Lester Piggott.

 

Consequently, Nijinsky started odds-on favourite, at 4/7, for the 2,000 Guineas back at Newmarket the following May and, again, won easily by 2½ lengths from Yellow God. In the Derby, he started 11/8 favourite and beat main market rival Gyr by 2½ lengths in the fastest time since Mahmoud in 1936 and, in the St. Leger, he justified odds of 2/7 by beating Meadowville by a length, without ever being asked for maximum effort. In so doing, Nijinsky became the first Triple Crown winner since Barham in 1935.

 

Nijinsky tasted defeat just twice, on the last two starts of his career. On his penultimate start, in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, he was beaten a head by the rallying Sassafras, ridden by Yves Saint-Martin. On his final start, in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket – where he was particularly fractious before the start – he ran below par and was beaten three-quarters of a length by Lorenzaccio, ridden by Geoff Lewis. All in all, Nijinsky won 11 of his 13 races and over $670,000 in prize money.

 

At the end of his three-year-old campaign, Nijinksy stood at Clairborne Farm, Kentucky, where he became a leading sire until his death, as a 25-year-old, in 1992. He had been plagued with chronic leg problems and was humanely euthanised to prevent further discomfort.