The King and the Royal Stud 2026

Foals to date: -

colt by Auguste Rodin out of Mellow Yellow (3rd foal (all colts): 2yo is unraced Amber Spyglass)
colt by City of Troy out of Nathra (disappointing mare)
colt by Starspanglebanner out of Blue Missile (2nd foal, granddam Nathra)
filly by Frankel out of Memory (dam of Recorder)
filly by Zarak out of Thought Process (granddam is Memory)
filly by Kingman out of Daphne
filly by Siyouni out of Enticement (dranddam of Point of Law and Warrant Holder)
colt by Churchill out of Portfolio (2nd foal, half-brother to Point of Law)
filly by Blue Point out of Hard to Resist (first foal)
colt by Too Darn Hot out of Sweet Idea (disappointing mare)

so 10 live foals so far

Still to foal (or no return this year)

Too Darn Hot out of Castle Lady (dam of Portcullis)
Wootton Bassett out of Light Refrain
Camelot out of Estimate
Kingman out of Market Value (dam is out of Estimate)
Zarak out of Award Scheme (dam of King's Trust and Kings Prize)
Night of Thunder out of Perfect Alibi (2nd foal, out of Daphne)
Frankel out of Magnetic Charm (listed winner, dam of Hard to Resist)
Frankel out of Diploma (dam of Portfolio and granddam of Point of Law)
Baaeed out of Desert Breeze (dam of Desert Hero and Aeolian)
Mostadhaf (?) out of Golden Stream (dam of Chalk Stream and Reach for the Moon)
Blue Point out of Companionship (3rd foal, first foal disappointing and out of Sweet Idea).

10 possible further foals, although almost certain Award Scheme did not conceive. Most recordings of foals appear about 7 weeks after their birth. So still some time to go. I'm not sure Golden Stream was mated last year. Looking at all that I think 14-15 foals is the likely total.

As regards the current yearlings, all five GB born fillies have gone through their second GBB registration. There is also a further filly that was born in France and that's Award Schemes' Ghaiyyath.

One interesting feature of the King's Friday Treble was that all 3 winners were by Frankel. The oldest winner of the 3 was the 4yo Warrant Holder who was winning his first race on turf. Surprisingly, the later in the card Yorkshire Cup winner Rahiebb also won his first race on turf, despite being 2nd in last year's St Leger. Warrant Holder and Rahiebb met each other in a 10f Newcastle Novice race in March 2025 and Warrant Holder won by 2+ lengths, though receiving 7lb from Rahiebb. On a literal reading of form that put him 4lb behind Rahiebb. That difference had expanded to 15lb by the time of their last races.

Today King's Trust tries again and hopefully he'll come out of the stalls at the right time.

After numerous entries Food for Thought finally appeared over 7f at Chepstow on Friday. Despite being favourite he looked to be the first horse under pressure and he finished a distant 4th of 5 to a 33-1 shot. He was the 3rd of Beckett's quartet of 3yo fillies to run and they've all been well beaten. The 4th filly is Avarona, who was probably the least impressive of the quartet judged by her 2yo start. She may run this week but as a group they need to do better or soon the King will have no mares.

Kings Trust looked to have little chance after a furlong of his start at Kempton. It proved to be the case though he did run on in the last 2f to finish 6th. That turned down 95,000gns looks too much for him now.

Dan Briden writes 2yo reviews on the Sporting Life for different Trainers. So far, he's done the Gosdens and Andrew Balding's 2yo strings. Obviously these are unlikely to be totally the gospel truth and complete, as some owners may not want their horses discussed and some 2yos may be late developers (for example).
As regards the Royal horses Balding's list was interesting. He has three 2yos mentioned and you'd take from the comments that Laurel Crown is very much the top of the list. He's a Dubawi colt out of Daphne, who was a listed winner but did not win as a 2yo. He also said he liked Rough Guess, who's by Siyouni out of Estimate. He seemed to think we might see him in the Autumn. The third 2yo was Golden Refelction who's a Sea the Moon brother to Reach for the Moon and Chalk Stream (both by Sea the Stars). He seemed to like this one quite a bit but said he had a rounded action and would not be suited by firmish going. Lady's Mantle is not mentioned.
All three Royal 2yos are mentioned in the Gosdens' review but there are no insights on their current state etc.. Lancaster Tower is obviously an interesting one as he's by Kingman and the mare's 3rd foal after two useful foals (the second is Portcullis). His other two 2yos are out of what I would call the duffer mares (Nathra and Companionship [her dam Sweet Idea is another duffer]). Their names are Glimpseoflightning (Night of Thunder) and Lord in Waiting (Kingman). Maybe they are the equivalent of the last chance saloon for these 2 mares.
Hopefully there'll be reviews of Beckett, Haggas and Walker's Royal 2yos soon.

Sweet Idea's latest 3yo Lorca's Waltz is entered for the July Sales.

Not sure what Benoit de la Sayette was up to on King's Trust at Doncaster. Seemed to be keeping his mount as far back as possible and then letting it fly in the final 2 furlongs. Was he there to win the race, improve his rating so he can run at Ascot or not improve it too much.
In the end he was beaten a nose and a yard past the post would have won.
So his OR will definitely go up for that and he definitely has a change of gear. Looks as if he could stay further and perhaps he'll go for the Britannia.
But can't help but feel he should have won that by starting his run 50 yards earlier.

The gelding operation seems to have been a success.

5 day declarations are out for the first two days of Royal Ascot. Here are the Royal declarations for those days: -

Tuesday
Reaching High (Mullins) gets entries in both the Ascot Stakes (20f) and Copper Horse Handicap (14f); Warrant Holder (Gosdens) is entered in the Wolferton Handicap (10f)

Wednesday
Point of Law Gosdens) gets entry in the Queens Vase (14f); King's Prize (Beckett) gets entry in the Windsor Castle Stakes (6f).

Both of the Gosdens' entries have been impressing the gallops watchers at Newmarket.

Tropical Sands has her second start in a 9f Novice race at Newbury today. She's by Too Darn Hot out of the now sold Shama.

Yes, he went to Mullins last year after Stoute retired. Ran twice last year in an amateur flat race in Ireland then in the Ascot Stakes, in which he was pinned in on the rails for nearly the whole race.

Thursday entries

Golden Orbit (surprisingly) gets an entry for the Ribblesdale (12f); King's Trust gets an entry for the Britannia (8f) but will he get in?

Friday & Saturday

King's Prize (Beckett) gets another entry for the Albany Stakes; Warrant Holder gets an entry in the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap; may have to add Reaching High in the Queen Alexandria Stks

Tuesdays Card
Reaching High goes for the Ascot Stakes with Ryan Moore in the plate. Hopefully he'll get a run this year.

Wednesday
Point of Law goes for the Queen's Vase. Interesting increase from a 10f maiden win to a 14f Group 2. James Doyle booked.

A spotty week for The King's horses, including a nightmare for two of his trainers.
The idea of Mullins making a long distance stayer out of Reaching High was left in tatters on the opening day as Estimate's son was the first beaten horse in the race and trailed in tailed off.

Beckett could not get a thing right with any horses during the week, not just the Royal ones. He joined Mullins with a tailed off Golden Orbit in the Ribblesdale, while in the same race his Lady Roisia nearly won the race but without his jockey. Another Beckett runner in that race was also tailed off. I'd think Mr Beckett may wonder if he has a virus in his stable. King's Prize was not a total write-off in the Albany as she continually had her path blocked and beat only 3 home. But she had her problems because she didn't have the pace to get into a good position in the first place. 6f is too short for her and she should be given a second chance over 8f later in the year.

Only the Gosdens can come out of it with any credit. Point of Law on the second day got squeezed out at the first bend (surely they should make 14f races 14.5f (the Leger distance) to give the horses more time before the first bend?) trailled the field nearly all the race and then tried to come wide round the whole field. Del Maro who was just in front of him before the turn came down the inside and just go beaten. He must have run about 30 yards less than Point of Law, yet only finished less than 2 lengths ahead of him. Point of Law must be given a second chance and perhaps aimed at a 12f race at Goodwood or Newmarket. Warrant Holder ran with great credit in the Duke of Edinburgh and was beaten into 2nd after taking the lead 2f out. Ran a good race and may be better on good or good to soft going.

If I was The King I'd be questioning why some of these horses ran at Royal Ascot. I can't help horses are being forced beyond the capability too early. Others are just not good enough.

Only Haggas had a Royal winner but that was Lorca's Waltz at Beverley on Tuesday.