Woodbine favourite NOTABLE SPEECH and impressive Woodbine maiden winner EZ TINA are one of the many stars set to race over the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting beginning Tuesday at Ascot Racecourse in England. Tuesday’s three Group 1’s include a rematch between Bow Echo and Gstaad in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
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It is far from a two horse race, though, with Charlie Appleby’s Talk Of New York coming off a win in the Heron Stakes at Sandown.
George Boughey’s Bow Echo is due to go off favourite given his romp over Gstaad at Newmarket but Aidan O’Brien’s runner has subsequently won the Irish Guineas at the Curragh.
Boughey decided to the Guineas with Bow Echo noting to the Press Association,, “He was doing a nice piece of work on the Friday morning some horses were shipping over to Ireland and having a hard race, so he’s been able to build up and hopefully peak on Tuesday.”
“It’s a long game with this horse, I hope. He’s a horse who is going to keep on improving, there’s big days ahead of him and I had more confidence of having him right for Ascot by not going to Ireland.
“I would have fancied him on the day knowing how he worked on the Friday morning, but I thought for the longevity of the horse it was more important that he had the break.”
O’Brien also runs Puerto Rico, a dual Group One winner as a juvenile last season.
Power Blue and Lord Britain have also been declared.
Other notable stakes include the Queen Anne on Tuesday with Notable Speech, a 2-time winner of the Woodbine Mile (G1).
A big field of 26 has been declared for the King Charles III Stakes, including American Affair, who handed Jim Goldie a first Group One winner 12 months ago.
Australian raiders Overpass and Asfoora will be joined by Monteille and Rayevka, both trained in France with Aidan O’Brien’s Mission Central the only runner from Ireland.
Night Raider, the supplemented Behike and the improving Rosy Affair have also been declared.
There is also a big field in the Coventry Stakes for 2-year-olds with O’Brien’s Confucius and Great Barrier Reef joined by the likes of Archie Watson’s Siouxperb, George Scott’s Mrair and Hamad Al Jehani’s Royal Heritage.
Will it be EZ? Impressive Woodbine maiden winner EZ TINA is one of several horses racing at Royal Ascot for US trainer Wesley Ward, who competes a lot at Woodbine. EZ Tina
American trainer WESLEY WARD and jockey Juan Hernandez will have three horses in action during the week. Ward will saddle all three of Hernandez’s Royal Ascot mounts. He will ride Ruiva in Wednesday’s Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, Bacio on Friday in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap for 3-year-olds and Ez Tina in Saturday’s Group 2 Norfolk Stakes for 2-year-olds.
The Royal Ascot meet runs from Tuesday through June 20. Seven races are carded each day, and the first post is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET. The last race each day is scheduled to run at 1:10 p.m. ET
Perhaps the best race of the entire Royal Ascot meet will be the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on Wednesday featuring 2025 Arc winner DARYZ who is 2 for 2 this year, MINNIE HAUK, second by a head in the Arc and OMBUSMAN, last year’s Prince of Wales’s winner.
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