September 27th, 2011

This Friday 30th September sees the Bollinger Champagne Challenge Series Handicap for Gentleman Amateur Riders. The race commences at 15.10 at the world famous Ascot racecourse and will see the runners and riders making their way around the four Furlong Swinley Course as they attempt to take home the £18000 prize fund.

The Swinley Course is the main circuit at Ascot which consists of a right handed triangle of approximately 1 mile 6 furlongs. The longest side is slightly downhill to the turn and then rises steadily from there to the finish. An extension forming an L-shape is the Old Mile Course. The New Mile Course is an extension of the finishing straight for all races up to 1-mile in distance and is uphill all the way – making for a tough race and exciting competition!

Other races of interest at Ascot on Friday are the The PwC Handicap Stakes, The EBF ‘Firebreak’ Ratcliffes Syndication Classified Stakes, The Keltbray Noel Murless Stakes, The Tabac Gordon Carter Stakes and The Berkshire Media Group Handicap Stakes.

June 18th, 2011

The jockey Ryan Moore and trainer Aiden O’Brien enjoyed a double success in the first two races of day five – winning the Chesham Stakes with Maybe, the first filly to bag this race since 2004, and the Hardwick Stakes courtesy of Awake the Dawn, a hugely respected four-year-old whom O’Brien describes as a ‘serious horse’.

But it was the 3.45 Golden Jubilee Stakes that had top billing for the day and formed the first half of the most talked about double victory of the day – this time for trainer James Fanshawe. His horse, Society Rock, came up from 25-1 odds to claim victory late but convincingly, ridden with assurance by Pat Cosgrave to claim his own first Royal Ascot win.

June 18th, 2011

While it is most famous for its place in the annual society calendar and excellence in flat racing, Royal Ascot has also made a strong cultural impact. The famous Ladies’ Day can trace its roots back to 1823, when an anonymous poet called the Thursday of the Royal meeting ‘Ladies’ Day… when the women, like angels, look sweetly divine’ and the event has continued to inspire ever since.

June 17th, 2011

The very wet fourth day of Royal Ascot started in style for Jamie Spencer, the jockey who won yesterday’s Gold Cup, as he rode Samitar to victory in the Group 3 Albany Stakes. Samitar, who earned trainer Mick Channon his first Ascot win in three years, is the half-sister of Nijoom Dubai who won the same race in 2007.

Irish colt Nathaniel, ridden by William Buick, has become firm favourite for the St Leger following an impressive victory in the King Edward VII Stakes, beating his nearest rival Fiorente by five lengths. His race was described as ‘divine’ by the racing press.

June 17th, 2011

Royal Ascot does not just create winners and losers in the style stakes; it’s also a hot bed of potential achievement for the runners, riders and trainers, with nearly £4million available in prize money and a chance to create their own piece of history at the 300-year-old course.

June 16th, 2011

Despite pouring rain, Ladies’ Day was a vivid occasion with birds, balloons, artists’ palettes and even milk cartons gracing the heads of racegoers. As the Royal Procession drew up, the Middletons’ position in British society was cemented with the sight of Carole Middleton in an open top carriage not far behind the Queen.

The big race of the day, The Gold Cup, produced a stunning victory for Jamie Spencer-ridden favourite Fame and Glory. This is the five-year-old’s fifth Group One win and one which has resulted in the bookies giving him a 3-1 chance to win the same race again next year. Could he be the next Yeats?

It was the Norfolk Stakes which launched the racing for this third day of Royal Ascot’s 300th year, and gave jockey Phillip Makin his first Royal Ascot win with Bapak Chinta. The horse ran a convincing race throughout, comfortably heading off late challenges by Boomerang Bob and Crown Dependency. Next, the Ribblesdale Stakes at 3.05 generated the second win of the week for Irish filly Banimpire, narrowly beating fellow-Irish Field of Miracles, following her victory at Cork on Sunday.

Arguably the greatest winner of the day was trainer Hughie Morrison, whose horse Sagramor ridden by Nicky Mackay produced a half length win in the Britannia Stakes, swiftly followed by another win in the Tricentenary Stakes by 20-1 surprise Pisco Sour. Morrison’s joy was compounded by the fact that he has not had a Royal Ascot winner before today.

The day’s final race, the King George V Stakes, gave a celebrity tinge to the racing – appropriate, perhaps, on Ladies’ Day, which attracted newly-knighted Bruce Fortsyth, urbane singer Bryan Ferry and scores of other famous faces. Winning horse Brown Panther enjoyed a six length win over its nearest rival, Census, part owned by Elizabeth Hurley. Brown Panther’s owner and breeder is ex-footballer Michael Owen, who cried with delight – and was, incidentally, the second winner this Royal Ascot for jockey Richard Kingscote.