Andrew Hawkins
International formlines will be put to the test in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, the last of eight Group 1 races across the five-day Royal Ascot meeting.
Between them, the 16 horses in the six-furlong sprint have raced in nine countries and won in seven.
Japan has only had one placegetter from 12 attempts at Royal Ascot, that coming on their very first attempt when Agnes World finished second in the King’s Stand Stakes.
Trainer Noriyuki Hori, one of their very best when it comes to travelling horses abroad, saddles up his first Royal Ascot runner in Satono Reve. The G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen winner was second to the world’s leading sprinter Ka Ying Rising at Sha Tin last start.
Facing him is new Wathnan Racing acquisition Lazzat, who was stretched out to longer distances after a game second in one of the world’s premier form races of 2024, the Golden Eagle. However, trainer Jerome Reynier feels he is at his best as a straight-track sprinter and he has an opportunity to prove himself as Europe’s next elite speedster.
Others include boom Australian colt Storm Boy on his second start for Aidan O’Brien and last year’s Commonwealth Cup winner Inisherin, whose form ties into Lazzat through Golden Eagle winner and Commonwealth Cup runner-up Lake Forest.
NAP: R1 #5 Treanmor
David Morgan
Jet-setting Joao Moreira has a busy weekend with Satono Reve’s assignment on Saturday being followed by a late night flight out of Heathrow to ride Obataye in the G1 Grande Premio Brasil in Rio de Janeiro, a race the pair won with such emotion a year ago. There’ll be plenty of emotion again if the ‘Magic Man’ nails his first Royal Ascot win on Satono Reve for Japan.
Godolphin has had a great week with the Group 1 wins of Ombudsman and Trawlerman, and Rebel’s Romance will be a tough contender in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes. Surprisingly, the veteran has raced at Ascot only once before, when third in last year’s G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Treanmor could well be a big player in Godolphin’s future if early indications are anything to go by. The €2 million son of Frankel impressed on debut and carries expectations in the Listed Chesham Stakes.
The G3 Jersey Stakes used to kick off the meeting but is now fourth-last on the bill. Spring classic form is often on show in the three-year-old contest and this year is no different: Coolmore’s Commanche Brave was fifth in the Irish 2,000 Guineas after running second to subsequent French Guineas hero Henri Matisse, who was second to Irish Guineas winner Field Of Gold in Tuesdays St James’s Palace Stakes; Marvelman was runner-up to the Irish 2,000 Guineas second last time; and Saracen was second in the G3 Greenham behind the French Guineas second. But watch out for the unbeaten Remmooz who missed the Classics altogether.
NAP: R2 #9 Rebel’s Romance
Jack Dawling
The final cavalry charge of the week takes place when 27 runners hurtle down the six-furlong straight for the meeting’s oldest handicap, the Wokingham Stakes.
The famous sprint, which was first run in 1813, will test whether a similar theme that has been seen in handicaps so far this week can be repeated when the short-priced More Thunder lines up for William Haggas from a seemingly favoured stands’ side draw in gate 23.
My Cloud and Never So Brave have already shown that they were miles better than their marks in the Royal Hunt Cup and Buckingham Palace Stakes, respectively, and More Thunder looks poised to start a warm favourite to follow suit.
Like Never So Brave, More Thunder was formerly trained by Sir Michael Stoute before moving to Andrew Balding at the beginning of the season following Stoute’s retirement.
However, More Thunder’s rise to his rating of 98 is all the more impressive considering he was solely raced over nine and 10 furlongs with Stoute. Since joining Balding’s yard, the Night Of Thunder colt has run twice over six furlongs at Newmarket and relished a crack at sprinting.
Of course, as is the case with most Royal Ascot handicaps, a big field and a few potentially well in rivals could make his task fiendishly tough.
NAP: R3 #11 Satono Reve
Day 5 of Royal Ascot begins Saturday at 2:30pm (GMT). ∎
