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| Royal Ascot News 2009 |
Quadruple Bidding Yeats Heads Group One Entries
22/04/09
Yeats (Aidan O’Brien), who will be bidding for an unprecedented fourth Gold Cup in June, heads 32 entries for this year’s race.
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The already great eight-year-old could be in for an intriguing clash with top French-trained staying hurdler, Kasbah Bliss (Francois Doumen), and the likes of Godolphin’s Caulfield Cup winner, All The Good and last year’s Queen’s Vase winner, Patkai (Sir Michael Stoute).
Amongst the 31 entries for the Queen Anne Stakes are runaway Dubai Duty Free victor Gladiatorus, now with Godolphin, Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova (Freddie Head, France), Archipenko and Imbongi (Mike De Kock) for South Africa and many people’s idea of potentially the best older miler in the United Kingdom this year, Paco Boy (Richard Hannon).
Gladiatorus and Archipenko are also entered in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, for which there are 35 entries, which include Presvis (Luca Cumani), who was a fast finishing second to Gladiatorus in Dubai and looks one of the fastest-improving horses in training.
Conduit (Sir Michael Stoute), winner of the Ladbrokes St Leger and the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2008, is also among the entries along with last year’s Irish Derby winner, Frozen Fire (Aidan O’Brien), and 2008 French Derby winner, Vision D’Etat (Eric Libaud, France).
This year’s race could have added spice in the shape of Australia’s mile and middle distance star, Niconero (David Hayes, Australia), who is on track for an Aus$500,000 bonus if successful at Royal Ascot having won the Group One Darley Australian Cup over ten furlongs at Flemington in March. On his previous start the eight-year-old had won the Group One Futurity over a mile and he subsequently ran a highly creditable fourth behind Gladiatorus in the Dubai Duty Free.
The St James’s Palace Stakes and Coronation Stakes have attracted 60 and 53 top three-year-olds respectively and the picture for those events will, as ever, become clearer after the Classics at Newmarket and Epsom.
ROYAL ASCOT 2009 ORDER OF RUNNING
FIRST DAY - TUESDAY 16th JUNE
2.30 pm The Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1)
3.05 pm The King’s Stand Stakes (Group 1)
3.45 pm The St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1)
4.20 pm The Coventry Stakes (Group 2)
4.55 pm The Ascot Stakes (Handicap)
5.30 pm The Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed)
SECOND DAY - WEDNESDAY 17th JUNE
2.30 pm The Jersey Stakes (Group 3)
3.05 pm The Windsor Forest Stakes (Group 2)
3.45 pm The Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Group 1)
4.20 pm The Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap)
4.55 pm The Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2)
5.30 pm The Sandringham Stakes (Listed) (Handicap)
THIRD DAY - THURSDAY 18th JUNE
2.30 pm The Norfolk Stakes (Group 2)
3.05 pm The Ribblesdale Stakes (Group 2)
3.45 pm The Gold Cup (Group 1)
4.20 pm The Britannia Stakes (Heritage Handicap)
4.55 pm The Hampton Court Stakes (Listed)
5.30 pm The King George V Stakes (Heritage Handicap)
FOURTH DAY - FRIDAY 19th JUNE
2.30 pm The Albany Stakes (Group 3)
3.05 pm The King Edward VII Stakes (Group 2)
3.45 pm The Coronation Stakes (Group 1)
4.20 pm The Wolferton Rated Stakes (Listed)
4.55 pm The Queen’s Vase (Group 3)
5.30 pm The Buckingham Palace Stakes (Handicap)
FIFTH DAY - SATURDAY 20th JUNE
2.30 pm The Chesham Stakes (Listed)
3.05 pm The Hardwicke Stakes (Group 2)
3.45 pm The Golden Jubilee Stakes (Group 1)
4.25 pm The Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap)
5.00 pm The Duke of Edinburgh Stakes (Heritage Handicap)
5.35 pm The Queen Alexandra Stakes (Conditions)
