The weather wasn’t at its kindest but day one of Royal Ascot seldom fails to deliver and yesterday was no exception.
As on so many occasions in the past, Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore stole the headlines with a double supplied by Arizona in the Coventry Stakes and Circus Maximus in a thrilling St James’s Palace Stakes.
It is incredible to think that Aidan is on course to saddle almost 50 different horses over the course of this five-day meeting.
He handles the pressure of being Europe’s number one trainer with great sportsmanship and his bold move to supplement Circus Maximus – who was blinkered for the first time and stepping down from a mile and a half after having a tough race in the Derby just over two weeks ago – was a classic example of what sets him apart from most trainers.
Of course, Aidan and Ryan have a huge following internationally and people who follow them would have been delighted to see that Circus Maximus was returned at 11-1.
And, on a related topic, everyone who has played a part in helping create our World Pool with Ascot and Totepool can take great pride in a development that has created a new dimension for the future of international wagering.
This is the first time that we have Simulcast all five days of the royal meeting. Turnover was up 37 per cent on last year – with HK$52m of the HK$223m total coming from our international commingling partners – and the appetite for strong global pools is clear to see.
Our thanks go out to all those who have made our joint vision of World Pools come true. I am convinced that we now have a very strong foundation to build on, especially if we can open up our popular exotic pools such as the Tierce and the Quartet to a global market.
Back on the track, it was good to see horses who have tackled Hong Kong’s big races showing up so well on day one at Ascot.
Blue Point has now won the G1 King’s Stand Stakes twice since failing to shine against our best sprinters in last year’s Chairman’s Sprint Prize.
Beat The Bank and One Master also came up short when they travelled to Sha Tin for last year’s LONGINES Hong Kong Mile but they have returned to Europe in great form and provided yet another reminder of how good our master miler Beauty Generation is by finishing second and third in a tight finish to the G1 Queen Anne Stakes.
Today’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes over 1993m features two more high-class horses familiar to Hong Kong fans, namely the Japanese mare Deirdre and the leading French older horse Waldgeist.
Aidan holds the key to this G1 race tactically as it appears that Hunting Horn will make the early running with his star filly Magical close up under Ryan. High-class older horse Crystal Ocean will also be handy, while Deirdre, Waldgeist and last year’s unlucky Arc runner-up Sea Of Class will be ridden to challenge late.
Sea Of Class made striking progress last year but her trainer William Haggas is reportedly concerned about running her in such a tough race on soft ground first time out.
That makes this a tricky race to assess but Magical is very effective on soft ground and has thrived on racing this year. She looks a win and place chance but Crystal Ocean and Waldgeist are also very effective on a wet track and both are place chances in what could be the best race of the week.
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