Horse racing-Docklands wins dramatic opening race at sunny Royal Ascot
ASCOT, England, June 17 (Reuters) - Docklands claimed victory in a thrilling battle with favourite Rosallion in the opening race at a gloriously sunny Royal Ascot on Tuesday, the start of five days of high-class racing, fashion and big-stakes betting at the famous English course.
Catching the leaders after missing the initial break, Docklands drove to the front to press Rosallion all the way to the line, with the judges ruling in his favour, despite jockey Mark Zahra dropping his whip.
The Harry Eustace-trained victor, second in this race last year, gave the trainer his third Royal Ascot winner.
"I just crept as much as I could and just got room at the right time," said Zahra. "He burst through and just kept responding. It's one of the top moments of my career for sure."
Horses will compete in 35 races across the Royal meeting hoping to net a share of 10 million pounds ($13.5 million) of prize money. As well as eight Group 1 races with prizes worth a minimum of 650,000 pounds, the card features several handicaps attracting big fields of hopefuls.
The opening day features two other Group 1 contests including the King Charles III Stakes which will see Australian raider and last year's winner Asfoora take on in-foal mare and Group 1 winner Believing.
In Tuesday's feature race, the 650,000-pound St James's Palace Stakes, the year's best three-year-old colt milers including Irish, French and British 2,000 Guineas winners Field Of Gold, Ruling Court and Henri Matisse, will race over the round mile.
The prestige of Royal Ascot attracts trainers from all over the world and this year sees contenders from nine countries including Japan, Australia, France, Ireland and the United States.
Leading U.S. trainer Wesley Ward will miss the meeting for the first time since 2012 but France's Lazzat, trained by Jerome Reynier, is fancied in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes for new owner Wathnan Racing, while leading Japanese sprinter Satono Reve is well backed for Noriyuki Hori in the same race on Saturday.
Multiple Classic winning trainer and Ascot's most successful current trainer Aidan O'Brien is chasing 100 winners at the Royal meeting and starts the week on 91. Ballydoyle sends out a strong string including Wednesday's Prince of Wales's Stakes hope Los Angeles, last year's Irish Derby winner, and Lingfield Derby trial star Puppet Master.
O'Brien also trains Gold Cup favourite Illinois, who replaced long-distance star Kyprios as Ballydoyle's first string for Thursday's race after the dual-Gold Cup winner was retired in May due to injury.
First run in 1807, the Gold Cup is a gruelling two-and-a-half mile marathon that tests stamina and attracts the best staying horses in Europe.
One of the oldest and most prestigious races at Royal Ascot, the Gold Cup has attracted eight entries this year including the Aga Khan stable's Candelari and second-favourite, the Godolphin-owned Trawlerman.
Epsom Derby-winning Ryan Moore is the meeting's top current jockey with 85 wins on the course and he will have several chances to add to his haul.
Britain's most successful female jockey Hollie Doyle is booked for 10 rides and will be looking to add to her 1,000-plus career wins.
While Royal Ascot attracts the biggest global names in racing, it is not all about the powerhouses such as Godolphin and big spenders like Amo Racing.
Small trainers have enjoyed big success in previous years and this week will see the likes of 100/1 Whitcombe Rockstar for small Dorset trainer Kieran Burke compete in the Royal Hunt Cup, while Regional starts at 17/2 in Tuesday's King Charles for Yorkshire-based Edward Bethell having cost around 3,500 pounds.
Some 300,000 visitors are expected to attend with entry tickets running from 25 pounds into the thousands for premium passes.
($1 = 0.7387 pounds)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Knauff galvanises Germany as England limp into Euro Under-21 last eight
When Lee Carsley expressed his hope that England's Under-21 players could give Thomas Tuchel 'something to ponder' with their performances while defending their European title in Slovakia, their first-half showing against Germany's second-string side wasn't what he had in mind. Trailing 2-0 at the break after goals from Ansgar Knauff and Nelson Weiper, there was even a brief moment when the result of the group's other match between Slovenia and the Czech Republic might have determined whether they progressed to the quarter-finals. But a significantly improved performance in the second half, as Alex Scott set up a frantic finale that could not quite produce an equaliser, at least gives Carsley something to build on as they prepare to face Spain in the last eight on Saturday night. Having beaten the pre-tournament favourites, who are looking for their record sixth title at this level, in the final two years ago in Georgia, the England manager will know that his side cannot defend like they did against Germany. Carsley said this week that this group 'needs more leaders' so leaving James McAtee, the captain, on the bench as one of four changes from the side that was held to a 0-0 draw against Slovenia on Sunday was perhaps an attempt to throw some of the less experienced squad members in at the deep end. Archie Gray and the influential Tino Livramento were also handed a rest, with Jack Hinshelwood and Aston Villa's Samuel Iling-Junior replacing them as full-backs. Although Germany impressively sealed progression to the last eight by scoring seven times in their opening two matches, it was still a surprise to see their coach, Antonio Di Salvo, field a completely changed side to their wins over Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Yet having already defeated Spain in a friendly back in March thanks to a hat-trick from Nick Woltemade – the towering Stuttgart striker who already has four goals in this competition – they didn't seem concerned about potentially losing top spot in the group. It was easy to see why within three minutes as the left-back Lukas Ullrich caught Jarell Quansah napping with a perfectly weighted ball over the top. A deft piece of control and precise finish from Knauff gave Germany an early lead. Quansah was almost on the end of a flowing move involving Ethan Nwaneri as England attempted to hit back. But despite enjoying the lion's share of possession and the stand-in skipper Harvey Elliott's best efforts, they struggled to create chances as Jonathan Rowe – again filling in as a central striker after Liam Delap was diverted to the Club World Cup – found himself isolated. It needed a last-ditch intervention from Iling-Junior to deny Knauff a second before Weiner was allowed to head home the Eintracht Frankfurt forward's cross minutes later despite the attentions of Hinshelwood and Charlie Cresswell. Carsley was probably nervously checking the score in the group's other match just in case when a floodlight failure with 45 seconds left of stoppage time brought a premature end to the first half. Thankfully for the hosts in Nitra, power was fully restored for the start of the second half as McAtee was summoned from the bench along with the Birmingham striker Jay Stansfield and Genoa's Brooke Norton-Cuffy. England finally began to look more of a threat as news that the Czechs had taken the lead against Slovenia filtered through, with Norton-Cuffy, a former Arsenal academy player, providing some much-needed impetus down the right flank. A second goal for the Czechs removed any remaining jeopardy as Carsley threw on Liverpool's Tyler Morton and West Brom's Tom Fellows, who was called up as a late replacement for Jobe Bellingham. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Scott should have done better with a great chance just after he had been booked for a late challenge before Hinshelwood headed over with the goal gaping. The Bournemouth midfielder gave the travelling England supporters something to cheer when he tapped home following a mazy run from Omari Hutchison. Cresswell came closest to completing the comeback as England laid siege to the German goal in the final 10 minutes but could not direct his header away from the goalkeeper Tjark Ernst.
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
England Under-21's book mouthwatering Euros quarter-final with Spain after Lee Carsley's side fall 2-1 to Germany in final group game
England stumbled their way into the quarter-finals of the Under-21 Euros on Wednesday night after a 2-1 defeat to Germany. Lee Carsley 's side needed to better or equal Slovenia's result to ensure progression and in the end both teams lost, meaning England set up a date with Spain on Saturday night. This was a performance that highlighted England's flaws and showed perhaps why talk of winning this competition back to back after the opening group win over Czech Republic was a touch premature. Germany made 11 changes from the side that beat Czech Republic 4-2, compared to the four alterations Carsley made to the England side, and yet they looked significantly more cohesive. So cohesive and tuned up, in fact, that they were ahead here inside three minutes after Angsar Knauff ran in behind Jarrell Quansah and was picked out by team-mate Lukas Ullrich with aplomb before firing low and hard past James Beadle. England's lack of a recognised striker has been the theme of this Euros title defence for Carsley and there were moments here where a presence in the box was all that was missing from them taking their chances. The importance of a striker was further underlined when Germany showed them how it's done to make it 2-0, going direct with a cross into the box for 6ft3' striker Nelson Weiper to nod in after out-jumping both Charlie Cresswell and Jack Hinshelwood. A floodlight failure in first half stoppage time just about summed up an error-strewn half for England that was, for the most part, one-way German traffic. A triple half-time substitution from Carsley saw Jay Stansfield, James McAtee and Brooke Norton-Cuffy on for Jonathan Rowe, Harvey Elliott and Samuel Iling-Jnr and that did at least inject some life into England. Brilliant work from Omari Hutchinson wide on the left saw him dance inside two German defenders before teeing up Alex Scott for a tap in on the line. Carsley had moments to be positive about in the second half and he will cling to those ahead of the knockout stages after a first half of pure frustration. Cresswell almost made it 2-2 when he rose highest from a McAtee corner, forcing a brilliant reaction save out of Tjark Ernst. That gave England a spring in their step late on but the equaliser evaded them and it's a Saturday night showdown with Spain that stands between themselves and a spot in the semi-finals.
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
We can cash in on concerts. We can host NFL, UFC or even darts. But football? Perhaps not... Williamson determined to boost the Murrayfield coffers, although he draws the line at the round-ball game
Alex Williamson expects Scottish Rugby to slash its losses for the next financial year thanks mainly to the increase in the number of concerts being hosted at Murrayfield. The chief executive revealed the governing body is in line to post a loss of £3.8million for 2024/25, a massive reduction from the £11.3m loss made in the last financial year. Williamson puts that largely down to increasing the number of concerts at the national stadium from three to 12 a year, with the likes of Oasis and AC/ DC set to play there over the coming months. The former Goodwood Estate CEO would like to see Murrayfield used more for non-rugby events including hosting NFL matches and major boxing matches. He said: 'For 2024/25, I think we've talked in the past about getting to about a loss of £3.8m, so I'm really confident that we'll deliver that. 'Obviously that'll come out in our annual report and accounts but we're in a good place. Murrayfield has hosted the likes of Taylor Swift in recent years, with the US star playing three nights in Edinburgh in 2024 'The year prior to that we lost £11m and the year prior to that we lost £10.5m, I think. So it's a material shift in the right direction and we will see a further improvement going into 2025-26 and then again in 2026-27. 'Scottish Rugby can be sustainably profitable, absolutely no question of that. Our challenge is broadening the depth of our revenues. 'At the moment we continue to be pretty heavily predicated on rugby. We need continued to have extended use of Murrayfield and so investments in the stadium need to be to turn this into a world-class sports and entertainment environment. 'The changes we made, after quite a short period of time of me being here, around the extension to our licence is a really important first step. So we now have the licence to have 12 concerts here as opposed to three. 'If we think about how we're going to improve in 2025-26, that improvement is because we've got three Oasis concerts and an AC/DC concert in comparison with one Robbie Williams concert. 'So even in a period where we've got only two Six Nations games, we will see revenue growth. That's a big step in the right direction but it's not enough, we've got to do more. 'When I say that I'd like us to be an entertainment centre there's absolutely no reason in my mind why we wouldn't be hosting other sporting events, let's say NFL as an example. But, equally, why wouldn't we have boxing, UFC or major darts events? 'We shouldn't limit ourselves to anything — it ultimately just needs to suit the bowl. There aren't many better viewing experiences than here and the acoustic experience is really good so we're available for pretty much anyone. 'Where we will fall short is where our facility doesn't hit the right straps. If you compare us to Tottenham, we cannot pretend that we've got anything like the same quality of facility. We have to find a way of investing rapidly in the stadium. 'I spent a couple of days down in London last week with people who've been involved in major regeneration programs and I'm absolutely certain that we can get after the regeneration of Murrayfield as a whole campus, but we're only at the start of that process. 'We've had a number of goes at identifying a way of refurbishing the stadium and got frightened by the number. We can't afford to get frightened by the number anymore. We've got to get on with it.' Williamson, though, downplayed the prospect of more glamorous football friendlies being staged at Murrayfield — believing the local residents aren't keen on the idea. He added: 'There are some challenges with hosting football here for sure. I'm not totally certain as to whether that's a long-term commitment for us. 'Some of those challenges are that I don't think the city particularly enjoys hosting football and we want to be great partners with the city. 'The other thing is it does change the way we use the infrastructure, for instance lots of the fencing is brought in to create segregation. I would prefer this to feel like a much more open environment.' Williamson revealed around £6.5m will be spent on sprucing up Murrayfield, with a new surface currently being laid and £2m being sunk into improving the woeful toilet facilities. He added: 'We're making investments, we're being careful and we're trying to touch a number of buckets. So, stuff around playing, stuff around safety and all the sort of well-being angles, and then stuff around customer experience. 'So we're spending about £2m on an entirely new surface in the bowl, including the lights that go alongside that. 'We're putting a new PA and emergency lighting systems to support the safety and security, but also some of the customer experience points. 'And we're spending about £1.5m on hospitality environments and just under £2m on loos. All of that will make an impact in the places it touches, but it's by no means going to solve all of the issues. 'There's plenty of them and we'll get after them in a measured way as our finances allow us to.'
