Royal Ascot: Americans tackle Breeders’ Cup qualifiers

The prestigious Royal Ascot meet in England begins Tuesday, and U.S. racing fans are advised to keep an eye on how the action unfolds.

The five-day meet long has been an important stop on the British and European racing calendars, but it’s increasingly become a focus for U.S. horses, who have picked up several Group 1 victories at Royal Ascot in recent years.

Among the 35 Royal Ascot races contested annually are four Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series events that award win-and-you’re-in berths to the Breeders’ Cup. Raiders from the U.S. and European horses who have run in the U.S. are prominent among the entries, so if you want to get an early feel for how talented U.S. turf horses stack up against the best in Europe, you won’t want to miss Royal Ascot.

Let’s take a look at each of the four Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series races.

Tuesday

Race 1: Queen Anne (G1), 9:30 a.m. EDT

The opening race at Royal Ascot is the Queen Anne, always one of the highlights of the meet. The prestigious one-mile turf test boasts an impressive roster of winners, including British superstar Frankel and Breeders’ Cup Mile winners Goldikova and Tepin. It’s no wonder the race awards an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

This year’s Queen Anne is headlined by Modern Games, the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and 2022 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner. The Charlie Appleby trainee suffered his first defeat on U.S. soil when finishing second in the Maker’s Mark Mile (G1) to kick off 2023, but he bounced back with a sharp score in the Lockinge (G1) at Newbury in England, an important steppingstone to the Queen Anne.

Lockinge runner-up Chindit is back for another try, but the biggest threat to Modern Games is the 4-year-old filly Inspiral, a brilliant 4 3/4-length winner of the one-mile Coronation (G1) at Royal Ascot last summer. The three-time Group 1 winner hasn’t started since October, but she won the Coronation off a similar eight-month layoff and looms as a serious win threat for the high-profile team of jockey Frankie Dettori and trainers John and Thady Gosden.

Pogo, who finished seventh in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Mile, also is entered in the Queen Anne.

Race 3: King’s Stand (G1), 10:40 a.m.

Nineteen horses will seek a Breeders’ Cup Turf sprint berth in this five-furlong grass dash. It’s a competitive field, but Highfield Princess is the mare to beat. She’s won at Royal Ascot in the past, and in 2022 she nabbed the Prix Maurice de Gheest (G1), Nunthorpe (G1) and Flying Five (G1) in succession before finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

But is Highfield Princess unbeatable? Not necessarily. She kicked off 2022 with a runner-up finish in the 1895 Duke of York Clipper (G2), a race she won in 2022, and she’s facing fierce competition at Ascot. Australian raider Coolangatta is a formidable foe after winning multiple Group 1 prizes in her home country, most recently the Black Caviar Lightning (G1) at Flemington. Also a key contender is the 3-year-old filly Dramatised, who won the 2022 Queen Mary (G2) at Royal Ascot and finished second in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint before kicking off 2023 with a victory in the Temple (G2).

And we can’t underestimate the American challenger Twilight Gleaming, a Wesley Ward trainee who won the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint after finishing second in the 2021 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot. Twilight Gleaming started her 4-year-old campaign with a flashy victory in the Giant’s Causeway at Keeneland, the same race Ward’s standout filly Lady Aurelia used as a springboard to victory in the 2017 King’s Stand.

Wednesday

Race 3: Prince of Wales’s (G1), 10:40 a.m.

The feature event on Royal Ascot day 2 is the Prince of Wales’s (G1), a 1 1/4-mile qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Final entries hadn’t been confirmed at the time this writing, but pre-entries listed an impressive roster of possible contenders.

First and foremost is Adayar, a dominant 4 1/2-length winner of the 2021 Derby (G1) at Epsom. The Godolphin homebred followed up that performance with a victory over older rivals in the prestigious King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (G1) racing 1 1/2 miles at Ascot, but lost twice to wrap up 2021 and managed only two starts in 2022. One of those was a half-length second to Bay Bridge in the 1 1/4-mile Champion (G1) at Ascot last fall.

Bay Bridge is back to challenge Adayar again and prepped with top-three finishes in the Prix Ganay (G1) and Tattersalls Gold Cup (G1) to start 2023. Meanwhile, Adayar started the year with a decisive 2 1/2-length score against easier company in the 1 1/4-mile Gordon Richards (G3). Their rematch in the Prince of Wales’s is shaping up as an exciting showdown, but the field also contains Tattersalls Gold Cup winner and 2022 Irish Champion (G1) hero Luxembourg plus Prix Eugene Adam (G2) winner My Prospero, who finished third by half a length against Bay Bridge and Adayar in the 2022 Champion. Clearly, this is an ultra-competitive contest.

The Prince of Wales’s field also contains a couple of names more familiar to U.S. racing fans: Classic Causeway and Bolshoi Ballet, respectively victorious in the 2022 and 2021 editions of the Belmont Derby (G1).

Thursday

Race 1: Norfolk (G2), 9:30 a.m.

Possible contenders for the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint are set to square off in the five-furlong Norfolk, a win-and-you’re-in qualifier featuring one of the most exciting American 2-year-olds in training, Wesley Ward’s American Rascal.

American Rascal was spectacular in his debut over the Keeneland dirt, smashing his opposition by 10 1/2 lengths. Switching to turf is a question mark, though it’s important to note American Rascal’s dam is the above-mentioned Lady Aurelia, who won the Queen Mary (G2) as a juvenile at Royal Ascot before returning as a 3-year-old to beat older males in the King’s Stand.

But victory isn’t guaranteed for American Rascal. Although final entries for the Norfolk haven’t been confirmed, the field is expected to include Elite Status, a British colt unbeaten and unchallenged in two starts. After smashing a five-furlong maiden contest at Doncaster by three lengths, Elite Status traveled to Sandown and took the five-furlong Racehorse Lotto National by five lengths. The showdown between American Rascal and Elite Status ought to be exciting.