Royal Ascot gets off to a sizzling start with fierce competition for the three prestigious Group 1 contests that launch the eagerly anticipated meeting.
Some of the USA's and Australia's best sprinters take on the cream of the home team, headed by the admirable mare Highfield Princess, in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes over 1000m.
Highfield Princess is talented, versatile and consistent. Last year she won three Group 1 races in France, England and Ireland at distances from 1000m to 1300m and on ground ranging from soft to good to firm.
Trainer John Quinn said, “She's a great mare, a wonderful animal. Last year I told the owner I thought she could win a Group 3, maybe a Group 2. Then, over five weeks, she won three Group 1s.”
Highfield Princess was a close second on her reappearance in a Group 2 contest over 1200m at York. Quinn said, “I was delighted with the run, carrying a Group 1 penalty against race-fit rivals. She's six now and what pleased me was that she showed that she retains her enthusiasm as well as her ability. She was fit but she'll come on for the race and has trained well since.”
The home team has another strong candidate in Dramatised, who won last year's Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes (1000m) and won another Group 2 on her reappearance. Trainer Karl Burke said, “She did it snugly. Last year she came on plenty before Ascot and it's been the same again. I'm very hopeful she'll run a big race. She likes fast ground and wouldn't want it soft.”
The opposition is formidable. Coolangatta follows six previous Australian-trained Royal Ascot winners, including five in the King's Stand Stakes, by winning the Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington. After Coolangatta worked at Ascot last week, joint-trainer Ciaron Maher said, “She stretched nicely to the line and James (McDonald) said she took quite a while to pull up. He was beaming about the work and it was everything I wanted to see.”
McDonald, who won the race on Nature Strip last year, said, “The quality Coolangatta beat in the Lightning Stakes was simply sensational. Nature Strip was a champion but Coolangatta is getting there.”
Her fellow Australian raider, Cannonball, is not without a chance while Wesley Ward, winner of 12 Royal Ascot races for the USA since 2009, including the King's Stand with Lady Aurelia in 2017, is bullish about Twilight Gleaming, second in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes (1000m) two years ago.
He said, “Her workouts have been phenomenal. She's eating up the ground at Keeneland and she's coming into the race as good as you'd like. I know it's probably the best turf sprint in the world but she's certainly up to the task.”
The buzz continues with the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes (1600m), in which Chaldean, winner of the Group 1 2000 Guineas (1600m), faces a strong challenge from Paddington and Cicero's Gift.
Paddington showed impressive acceleration when winning the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas (1600m) convincingly while connections of the unbeaten Cicero's Gift hope that he can step up to their level.