I never went to Disneyland as a kid, nor have I ever made it to Rainbow’s End, but my gut is telling me Royal Ascot is Disneyland for racing fans.
After seeing this royal carnival on screens for years, I had an idea of the scale and ceremony involved, but nothing can really prepare you for the intensity of racing’s holy grail.
Hoards of impeccably dressed punters become a flow the Thames would be proud of, gushing from trains and buses four hours before the first race is scheduled to start.
Before we can even begin to entertain racing, the Royal procession draws all eyes and attention – four carriages arrive from Windsor Castle with King Charles and Queen Camilla, plus their guests. The national anthem is played and the Royal Standard is raised to signify their arrival at the course – a tradition that was started by King George IV in around 1825 and it truly is a spectacular sight.
After seeing the Royal Procession in full flight the enormity and reputation of this carnival is starting to become clear.
The on-track action may as well be the World Championships of horse racing, a carnival where every race might be twenty times harder to win than usual, and horses are targeted and plotted to be here with a meticulous level of detail by the world’s greatest equine minds.
This investment and desire to be a winner at Royal Ascot is only because of the imperious standing the Royal Family have given this week, not just on the racing calendar, but their own.
ASFOORA FOR AUSTRALIA
When we talk about great racing fairytales, whatever your previous list looked like, it now has another all-timer.
Asfoora, the mare from Ballarat trained by the incredibly popular Henry Dwyer, winning the Group One King Charles III Stakes for Australia is as good as it gets in this sport and created incredible scenes of celebration on track, you always can hear the Aussies.
It was fair to wonder if she would be good enough to add herself to the list of Australian sprinters to triumph at Royal Ascot. No one has her in Nature Strip or Black Caviar’s league obviously, but she is versatile and importantly a very fast mare and Dwyer had faith she was the one for the longest trip in racing.
The performance itself was scintillating, being drawn wide became gold dust to her cause with the track clearly faster on the stand side, but the way she accelerated after being given a tow in by Regional and kicked clear to be very strong on the line, leaving zero doubts as to how good she is and how obviously Australia still rules the global sprinting roost.
Dwyer and Asfoora’s owner Akram El-Fahkri should be lauded in Australia and certainly here at Royal Ascot for what they have accomplished. It’s sadly not often enough we get to celebrate bravery in racing because punters are a ruthless crowd, this is different and Asfoora’s triumph truly is one for the dreamers and believers and that is a beautiful thing.
For the World Championships of Racing, it is an unusually quiet week from an international visitors perspective – no runners from Asia making Asfoora’s magic performance a very welcomed one by the club.
Terry Henderson’s OTI Racing, who are formidable in New Zealand and Australia with their gold and white hoops, also tasted success immediately into the carnival with Docklands in the Group One Princess Anne Stakes, running into an extremely reputable second behind a dominant Charyn.
It was a fantastic result for the Australian-based syndicator and the Aussie spring as he looks a prime candidate to head down under now and could even be a strong Cox Plate chance.
A PROPER HORSE RACE
Today’s Group One St James Palace Stakes was a proper horse race for serious colts with big breeding futures and the winner Rosallion would have to be one of the most impressive animals I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
The ‘Super Guineas’ as I tried to dub it (didn’t catch on) was a three-year-old mile race which had three Guineas winners lining up plus a handful of X-Factor extras who could all get involved in the finish.
When Henry Longfellow under Ryan Moore took over inside the last two furlongs it was going to take a monster performance from the Irish Guineas winner Rosallion to lift himself from being buried on the fence and find the will to chase and win. He lifted himself.
The form out of this race will be strong undoubtedly and following the careers of these promising colts if they can stay in training for long enough will be a real win for racing.
THE PUNT
Oh, what a feeling it is to tip a winner to anyone who will listen! To stand on-track at Royal Ascot as Israr was just way too classy for them in the Wolverton Stakes, that’s a memory I won’t forget.
He seemed to be a horse who was in a grade far too humble for his ability and that was proven as Jim Crowley took him back to the inside in the straight and he went whooska!
Congratulations to anyone who followed me in and had a bet with the $6 boosted option the TAB kindly gifted us.
TOMORROW
It’s back to business tomorrow when the most relentless racing festival rolls on as the Royal procession will at 2pm on the dot.
Four of tomorrow’s seven races have more than 25 runners lining up – let that sink in.
The highlight will be the Group One Prince of Wales Stakes where Aidan O’Brien tries to get on the board in a big way with Auguste Rodin and glamour mare Inspiral chases more Royal Ascot success for the Gosdens.
It is a good horse’s race without a doubt over 2000 meters and there are chances that carry big quotes to be wary of, it’s certainly not a match race by any means.
The Royal Hunt Cup with 30 runners is always a highlight of the week as an army of thoroughbred excellence charge up the Ascot straight, scouring for a gap and the ground necessary to charge to the post successfully.
It appears the rain will stay away and it will be another glorious day added to the very extensive Royal Ascot history books.