Big names such as Golden Pal plus star Aussie sprinters Nature Strip and Home Affairs and Japan’s Derby winner Shahryar also being readied for five-day jamboree
Full list of Royal Ascot G1 entries
Breeders’ Cup winner Pizza Bianca features among 16 US-trained entries for Royal Ascot nominated at the meeting’s G1 entry stage, details of which were released on Tuesday [April 26].
As expected, royal-meeting regular Wesley Ward has entered both Golden Pal (King’s Stand) and Campanelle (King’s Stand/Platinum Jubilee), while Pizza Bianca’s trainer Christophe Clement has entered four horses altogether for the five-day stand from June 14-18.
Reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox could also make his debut with Qatar Racing’s sprinter Caravel (King’s Stand/Commonwealth Cup), while Graham Motion is set to try again with Sy Dog (St James’s Palace Stakes) and Spenderella (Coronation).
Pizza Bianca, who is owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay, won the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf at Del Mar, beating 1,000 Guineas contender Malavath. She made her seasonal debut last weekend with a runner-up effort behind Consumer Spending on turf at Aqueduct.
“All options are open for Pizza Bianca after her second at Aqueduct,” explained Clement. “I am yet to have a discussion with the owner and suspect we will make a decision in the next two or three weeks.
“I thought she ran a good race at Aqueduct, although it was a shame she got beaten,” he went on. “The race was a little bit against us but the filly who won is a very nice filly. They both finished the race very willingly and our filly has come out of it in great shape.”
‘The fastest of the fast’ – Golden Pal ready for Royal Ascot after Keeneland blitz
Clement stressed that no final decision had yet been made. “We have a great programme here now for three-year-old fillies on the grass, in particular the New York Triple Crown,” he explained. “I am very happy to keep her here for that but if the owner wants to go to Ascot, then I am very happy to do that as well if we think she will be competitive.
“There is another stakes race in four weeks at Pimlico that she could go for and then from there you can go to Ascot. The filly will tell us what she wants to do but at the moment all options are wide open.”
Clement also has Slipstream, Derrynane and Big Invasion entered for the Commonwealth Cup. “Slipstream is very much on course,” he said. “He won a stakes race impressively at Keeneland in April and I don’t think I will run him back before Ascot.
“This horse has a very good mind and goes on any ground. He is very mature as well having been a good two-year-old last year. I think he is a good horse.
“I have also nominated a very fast filly called Derrynane,” he went on. “She is top-class but needs the ground on the firmer side. Similarly with Pizza Bianca, there is a stakes race for her here in late May and we may go there before deciding about the Commonwealth Cup.
“Both Slipstream and Derrynane have been competing with Wesley Ward horses who will be coming to Royal Ascot, so the form is very good, and any time they have been beaten, there have been excuses.”
Canada could be represented at Royal Ascot this year courtesy of Queen Anne Stakes entry Shirl’s Speight (Roger Attfield), dramatic last-gasp winner of the recent G1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland.
Golden Pal: expect something special says Wesley Ward
Wesley Ward’s customary raiding party will be spearheaded by dual Breeders’ Cup winner Golden Pal as he attempts to finally win in Britain in Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes, where he will meet Australian superstar Nature Strip.
“Golden Pal is doing great, he really is,” said Ward. “I have been singing this horse’s praises for a couple of years now and the only thing he hasn’t done yet is win on your patch. Hopefully, he can get it done!
“It was a powerful performance from him in the Shakertown – but it was a comeback and I really think his next run is going to be something special. He is a once in a lifetime horse – certainly the best I have ever had – and I think he will stamp that with his performance at Ascot if he runs like I am expecting him to.
“Physically, he is an awesome specimen now and mentally he is really coming into his own. I am just so excited to get him back over there.”
Golden Pal’s only defeat since a near-miss at Royal Ascot as a two-year-old came in last season’s G1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York, when he finished seventh behind Winter Power, much to his trainer’s bemusement.
“I am looking at a couple of things from his run at York,” he said. “Firstly, he ran a big race at Churchill Downs on his comeback last year and that was five weeks beforehand. I know five weeks is a nice gap for you guys but for me a longer spacing with sprinters works better.
“If I come back too quick, it usually stings me as a trainer. A lot of trainers are able to do it but my whole career I have never been able to do something like that.
“The other point is that when Frankie [Dettori] rode him, he did not want to go too fast early. He took a pretty good hold of him in the first part of the race and, although endoscopically there were no abnormalities after, maybe something got a bit displaced and shut his airways down a little bit.
“A veterinarian would disagree with me, but I am searching for an answer for that race because he went into it really good. Those are the two reasons I think that he did not fire but, other than that, he has fired every start of his life.”
Platinum Jubilee Stakes contender Campanelle will bid to join a select group of horses to have won three different Royal Ascot races in successive years. The four-year-old captured the Queen Mary Stakes in 2020 and last year was second past the post in the G1 Commonwealth Cup before the placings were reversed due to interference.
Ward said: “Barbara Banke [owner] and her team are so excited to get Campanelle back over there. She had a strong performance on her comeback win at Keeneland the other day. If you watch that race against some of the fastest fillies in the country, what she did was pretty impressive.
“Between her and Golden Pal, I think we are going in with some big chances. They are running in races that I have won before and I really feel this pair are coming into their respective races as good, if not better, than my previous winners.”
Of Ward’s 12 Royal Ascot winners to date, eight have come in two-year-old races, and the trainer is hoping to bring another strong team of juveniles this year.
He said: “We have our first grass maidens for two-year-olds in the US at Keeneland this week. Then there are maidens at Churchill Downs and Belmont Park as well. I will have runners across those races and how they get on will determine who travels.”
'The sprinters speak for themselves’ – Nick Smith
With likely runners from Japan also joining the party – as reported last week by Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – Ascot director of racing Nick Smith was well pleased with the initial entries.
Dubai hero Shahryar set to represent Japan at Royal Ascot in Prince of Wales’s Stakes
“Whilst early days still, it’s encouraging and very pleasing to see such a wide range of horses from nine countries entered for Royal Ascot,” he said.
“The sprinters speak for themselves and it will be fantastic to have the Australians back at Royal Ascot this year. A clash between Nature Strip and Golden Pal would be mouth-watering – probably the highlight of the week in a true international showdown of the heavyweights.
“Japanese racing has been the story of the season so far, stretching back to the Breeders’ Cup in fact. It will be fascinating to see whether that can continue at Royal Ascot but in Shahryar, the best of their horses to have run this year will be here in June.
“The potential American party is remarkable and it’s great to see the range of interest from that part of the world, including Canada, across so many races. It is always particularly exciting to see US-trained Breeders’ Cup winners at Royal Ascot and we hope to see Pizza Bianca and Golden Pal looking to achieve the double.”
All eight G1 races at Royal Ascot are part of the QIPCO British Champions Series. Four Royal Ascot contests are part of the Breeders’ Cup Win & You’re In Programme – the King’s Stand Stakes, Queen Anne Stakes, Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Norfolk Stakes.
Royal Ascot entries from outside Europe
Queen Anne Stakes (Tuesday)
Shirl's Speight Roger Attfield CAN
King's Stand Stakes (Tuesday)
Campanelle Wesley Ward USA
Caravel Brad Cox USA
Golden Pal Wesley Ward USA
Her World Wesley Ward USA
Home Affairs Chris Waller AUS
Nature Strip Chris Waller AUS
Ruthin Wesley Ward USA
St James’s Palace Stakes (Tuesday)
Sy Dog Graham Motion USA
Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Wednesday)
Shahryar Hideaki Fujiwara JPN
Commonwealth Cup (Friday)
Big Invasion Christophe Clement USA
Derrynane Christophe Clement USA
Her World Wesley Ward USA
Ruthin Wesley Ward USA
Slipsteam Christophe Clement USA
Coronation Stakes (Friday)
Pizza Bianca Christophe Clement USA
Spenderella Graham Motion USA
Platinum Jubilee Stakes (Saturday)
Artorius Anthony & Sam Freedman AUS
Campanelle Wesley Ward USA
Caravel Brad Cox USA
Golden Pal Wesley Ward USA
Grenadier Guards Mitsumasa Nakauchida JPN
Home Affairs Chris Waller AUS
Nature Strip Chris Waller AUS
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