Fridays Royal Ascot - HM The Queen savors victory!

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Tuesday morning make sure - if you can - to tune into TVG for on-site Royal Ascot coverage. The schedule each day:

RA Schedule - June 19 - Sat June 23rd

The very first race will have Frankel and one of the last races on the closing day (Sat) is Black Caviar - plus tons of great races in between!

DRF 6-18-12: “Royal Ascot has pair of superstars in Frankel, Black Caviar”

Tuesday’s opening-day card is, top to bottom, the best racing of the meeting, with two other Group 1’s, the St. James’s Palace and the King’s Stand, supporting the Queen Anne. But it is the Queen Anne, the first race of the meeting, that will attract the most attention. That’s because of the presence of Frankel, the best horse in the world according to the World Thoroughbred Rankings created by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

While England waits excitedly to see Australia’s top sprinter, Black Caviar, in the Diamond Jubilee, another Aussie, Ortensia, is fully capable of landing the King’s Stand over five furlongs. When last seeing action, Ortensia swept powerfully down the middle of the Meydan grass course to impressively capture the Meydan Sprint on Dubai World Cup night.

There is nothing like a Frankel in this year’s St. James’s Palace Stakes, a 3-year-old restricted race. Aidan O’Brien might have the favorite in Irish 2000 Guineas winner Power, and could also start Kentucky Derby flop Daddy Long Legs.

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HM The Queen, there every day, will have her big runner from last year (and already having scored a group 3 win this year) on Wednesday but he’ll be facing ‘So You Think’.

BBC: Carlton House carries Queen’s hopes in Jubilee year

The Queen will hope for a winner in Diamond Jubilee year when her horse Carlton House runs in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.

Last year’s Epsom Derby third, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, faces 10 rivals.

So You Think, runner-up in the 2011 Ascot race, heads the field.

The horse, formerly trained in Australia, will seek a ninth Group One victory on the 150th anniversary of the 10-furlong contest.

So You Think was narrowly beaten by Rewilding in the race 12 months ago, and will be joined by Aidan O’Brien stablemate Robin Hood, who is likely to be used as a pacemaker.

Carlton House was fourth in the Irish Derby after being placed in the Epsom version, and made a winning seasonal return in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown last month.

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(pdf) Royal Ascot past-performances for Tuesday’s races - from TVG/BetFair

Race 2 - King’s Stand Stakes (Group 1 for about $550k in purse money) will have Augustin Stables familiar silks with the runner “Night Carnation” from George Strawbridge Jr’s British operations

Race 3 - St James Palace Stakes (Group 1 also) will have an Augustin Stables entry too with “Fencing” and Frankie Dettori up

[K_2]

My stallion had two relations that may make an appearance this week - Rock Critic will be running in a Heritage Handicap, and Princess Highway may have a start in the Ribblesdale.

[Equibrit]

There’s a nice video on Black Caviar’s fan site; http://www.blackcaviar.net.au/news/bc-bc-bruce-clark-blog-17-june-2012

[Flashy_Gray_VA]

Royal processional is now entering the paddock area! Led by the Windsor greys are the Queen and Prince Philip (glad he’s out of the hospital).

Looking forward to Frankel in a few minutes!

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Betfair with Frankel listed at 1/9 with everyone else (to win) at 20-1+ and beyond.

He looks utterly smashing in the paddock and the facility is packed to the gills!

As they’ve been showing on TVG the headline from one of the UK papers: “Death. Taxes. Frankel” [all being assurances with life]

HRH The Queen with a sky blue colour.

BBC live blogging from Royal Ascot

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With the wagering Betfair indicated that $9M is wagered in the WIN category of which $8.7M of that is on Frankel

The nearest horse in win wagering is now 16-1 with Excellebration (IRE)

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Crushed the field! - Frankel takes the victory by 11-lengths in a 1-mile race … unheard of at the Group 1 level! Amazing. Indeed the world’s best.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

Holy Jesus… he is some animal.
Granted this crop of older milers is not great, but my God, he just destroys them… under a hand ride.
Horses are not supposed to win mile races on the turf that easily.

Wow.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

Incredible reception from the crowd, minutes long standing ovation. Can’t blame them after witnessing that.

What a way to start off a race meet, your first race on the card on the first day is a G1, won by a super horse… it can only go downhill from there!!

[Flashy_Gray_VA]

1.37.85 and 11 lengths, where’s the jawdrop icon??? :eek:

TQ paraded him in front of the grandstand and the horse was still cool as a cucumber. He’s simply unbelievable.

I can’t stop smiling!

[Glimmerglass]

The reception by the crowds - albeit he was the huge draw for the day - is wonderful … they know they saw something pretty amazing. What is spooky is that Frankel and Tom Q really didn’t look like they had to dig deep for that crushing performance, perhaps the best of his life to date.

[CVPeg]

Loved the expression on him as he pulled away - so gritty, determined, & sure. Put a tear in my eye.

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Want another reason to say wow? How about he lost a shoe during that blow out!

From an onsite tweet

Mick Fitzgerald, Former top jockey

“I’ve spoken to jockey Tom Queally and he said Frankel lost a shoe during his win today, which makes his performance even more impressive. It looked as though the shoe went very early in the race as well. This horse has blown away the competition. Frankie Dettori said it was like watching a horse galloping off into the dust. It’s like driving a super-powered sports car.”

Unfortunately it was confirmed - and goodness it was ugly - The Nile (ridden by William Buick) was euthanized after that breakdown in the Saint James Palace Stakes The same race was won by Kieran Fallon on Most Improved. That was Fallon’s 29th Ascot victory.

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Here is greatness in racing. Period. With Frankel making his 11th career start!

Video: June 19, 2012 at Royal Ascot: “Queen Anne Stakes” Group 1

(as an aside, the video in the link is excellent; TVG was provided part of the feed but worth watching at the 5min mark with him from the grandstand ovation)

[Equibrit]

Tom Q’s comments." He’s still improving - I didn’t think it was possible. The hardest thing was pulling him up"

From the Telegraph;
"Sectional timing was available at the meeting for the first time and the evidence revealed indicated that Frankel ran his fastest one-furlong section between the three-furlong and the two-furlong marker. He covered that furlong stretch in 10.58 sec, recording a top speed of 42.53mph on good to soft ground. Three consecutive furlongs at around 40mph mid-race meant he burned his rivals off with a display of pace they could not live with. "

Interesting Frankel bio; http://frankel.juddmonte.com/frankel-story/default.aspx

[Flashy_Gray_VA]

Frankel given a provisional Timeform rating of 147: highest ever!

http://http://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing/royal-ascot/results-reviews/royal-ascot-frankel-provisional-rating-of-147-is-highest-in-timeform-history-190612-143.html

David Johnson, Timeform’s Flat Editor, commented "The facts are that Frankel’s performance is likely to surpass anything witnessed in Timeform’s 64-year history.

Timeform’s All-Time Highest-Rated Horses

147 Frankel (Provisional)
145 Sea Bird II
144 Brigadier Gerard, Tudor Minstrel
142 Abernant, Ribot, Windy City
141 Mill Reef
140 Dancing Brave, Dubai Millennium, Sea The Stars, Shergar, Vaguely Noble

Timeform Global Rankings

1 Frankel 147
2 Black Caviar 136
3= Cirrus Des Aigles 133
3= Excelebration 133
5= Danedream 132
5= Hay List 132
7= Cityscape 131
7= So You Think 131
7= Strong Suit 131
7= Wise Dan 131

Somewhere the horse’s namesake must be smiling.

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Day Two - Wed - HRH The Queen’s colour is pink.

(pdf) Day two past-performances for the Royal Ascot card

Race 3 is the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes (off at approx 10:45 am EST) will feature So You Think, Big Blue Kitten (Ken & Sarah Ramsey’s shipper trained by Chad Brown), and The Queen’s own solid runner - Carlton House.

As folks will know Her Majesty’s silks are purple, gold braid, scarlet sleeves, black velvet cap, gold fringe

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And yes in race 1, Jersey Stakes, today there is (saddle cloth number 26) a horse which draws in due to scratches, carrying the M/M Roy & Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stables colors: Sentaril. She is a 3-yr old filly in a field mostly all males.