Daily Racing Thread Saturday 20th June 2026

Saturday’s meetings:

Royal Ascot (Flat) 2.30 – 6.10 (ITV) Good to Firm (Good in places)
Newmarket (Flat) 1.24 – 5.07 Good (Good to Firm in places)
Redcar (Flat) 1.42 – 5.18 Good
Ayr (Flat) 1.48 – 5.23 Good to Soft (Good in places)
Doncaster (Flat) 5.48 – 9.00 Good
Nottingham (Flat) 5.55 – 8.45 Good
Down Royal (Flat) 2.06 – 5.45 Good


Going reports as per Monday 15th June. Race times provisional before final declarations.

Scratch the Ascot opener, the two handicaps and the Queen Alexandra (most likely will be won by a NH trainer, you could dutch Willie Mullins’s runners).

The Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes looks like it will be exported to somewhere, probably a bit further away than Ireland or France. Most likely the money will be heading to the penal colony with Joliestar although do not count out Satono Reve even though that one was thrashed (again) by Ka Ying Rising last time but finished second in this last term.

There are quite a few familiar faces in the Hardwicke Stakes and quite a few that are simply making up the numbers. It is very hard to make any sort of case for Phantom Flight, who has been winning at Listed and Group 3 level in Bahrain but was only seventh in the Wolferton at this fixture last year and was last in the John Porter when last seen. Sons And Lovers was fifth in the Wolferton last year and was nearly eight lengths behind Jan Brueghel in the Ormonde Stakes. West Wind Blows has seconditis, most recently behind Kalpana at Newbury (who he now has to give weight) and he has never won above Group 3 level. The 2025 Derby winner Lambourn was a long way behind Jan Brueghel in the Coronation Cup and there is no reason to think that he will turn that around. Amiloc completed a five-timer winning the Ascot Derby last year but his best effort since was finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf won by Ethical Diamond, who beat last year’s winner of this that day. Prior to that Ethical Diamond had won the Duke of Edinburgh (at the second attempt) and the Ebor. This year he was fifth in the Sheema Classic, where West Wind Blows (second) and Giavellotto (third) were in front of him. French raider Best Secret is a handicapper upgraded to pattern races, winner last time of a soft ground Group 3 from West Wind Blows (with Wolferton winner Map Of Stars fifth) but he will need to improve on that and he has never won on quick ground. Giavellotto ran a career best when fourth in the Arc and was second in the Hong Kong Vase, where Goliath was third, but he is clearly not getting any better with age as he won the Hong Kong Vase in 2024 and was more than seven lengths third to Jan Brueghel in the 2025 Coronation Cup. Goliath won the King George in 2024 after running second in this race; however, he has failed to scale those heights since, winning a Chantilly Group 2 last time with runner-up Oracle closer to him than he was to Best Secret and West Wind Blows the time before. The pace angle here could end up being the mare Santorini Star, winner of the Jockey Club Stakes and second in a French Group 1 over two miles when last seen (the winner was last in the Gold Cup). Today’s shorter trip is probably not to her advantage. Jan Brueghel might end up with a Derby winner as a pacemaker here but is he actually getting any better? He won the Coronation Cup in 2025 but was thrashed in this year’s renewal after winning the Ormonde Stakes easily. He had not been seen since the 2025 King George where he finished fourth with Kalpana ahead in second. Kalpana subsequently finished seventh in the Arc before winning the Fillies And Mares over course and distance on Champions’ Day. She warmed up for this by winning the Aston Park, mowing down front running West Wind Blows who she was giving 4lb that day. I expect Kalpana to win today but will be keeping an eye out for some drift in the betting...

All the talk in the Jersey Stakes has been about the two-wins-from-two favourite Saber Strike after his easy win in a five runner Listed race at HQ. Is the form really that special? He is Timeform top rated in the race but only by 1lb from Catullus, easy winner of a Goodwood handicap at this distance. That Goodwood handicap has not worked out with the next five home all beaten next time, including three of them here this week. It looks quite easy to draw a line through a number of the outsiders as they have no good recent form at this level or better. Domina Ignis, Take Charge Star, Billecart, Ardisia and Thesecretadversary would all need huge career bests to be involved here and Morris Dancer needs improvement on his seasonal debut to get competitive. This is a rare occasion this week where all of the O’Brien family contenders look susceptible. Green Sense is a Group 2 winner in France but was beaten on her return in the Prix de Sandringham over a mile and has never won on quick ground. Neolithic was third in the Listed race won by Causeway and Andab was second in that race but blinkers have been added to the former today and a visor to the latter, which hardly inspires enthusiasm. So the best chance of an O’Brien win might be Wayne Lordan’s mount Dorset, the Wootton Bassett colt penalised for his Group 3 win and down the field in the Poulains, the form of which is not working out. Colori Forever won a handicap over course and distance last time with a fair bit to spare (form subsequently franked by the runner-up) but is he improving quickly enough to challenge in this very hot Group 3. Worth a look at a good each way price is Roger Varian’s Avicenna. The Godolphin colt was second in the Craven and last in the 2000 Guineas but won both races at this trip as a juvenile, including pipping the useful Hankelow in a Listed race. America Queen is another one worth a look at a big price having been fourth in the Cheveley Park on her final juvenile start and second in the Nell Gwyn on her return, although it would be fair to say that Richard Hughes has had an underwhelming week to date. Into The Sky returned in the 2000 Guineas finishing fourth (obviously ahead of Avicenna, Billecart and Thesecretadversary). In two juvenile starts he caused an 80/1 shock in a six-and-a-half furlong maiden race winning by a wide margin and was then second in the Mill Reef to Words Of Truth; so he would be no big price shock today. So that leaves me with just one, Ed Walker’s filly THE PRETTIEST STAR, an easy winner on her debut in 2025 followed by a close second at this trip in the Rockfel and a good fourth in the 1000 Guineas on her only start this term. She has been bought by Wathnan Racing so James Doyle takes over in the saddle today on a filly that is at least three times the price of the talking horse from the Haggas barn but with just as much chance on form.

I looked at the non-Ascot cards and they are mostly single figure fields not worth the trouble. Who would go to HQ today that does not live there? The biggest field an eleven runner apprentice handicap.

Kevin Blake’s Datazone really was utter b*ll*cks after the Norfolk Stakes. He did not specify whether the average speeds that he was comparing for Ascot winners were adjusted for age and weight. If Bacio was the fastest winner of the week averaged over the whole race distance then how much weight it was carrying, the actual distance of the race and how hard the front runners went early in the race are all significant.

What was very interesting about the Norfolk Stakes was how the three American sprinters dictated what actually happened. The stalls were not against the stands’ rail and the three Americans blitzed from the gate in a straight line, forcing all the home jockeys to follow them down the middle and far side of the track (okay, so some of the others could have ignored them and made for the stands’ rail and run their own race but they did not). Just like every other race on the straight course this week, the front runners went too fast and folded at the furlong pole leaving something else to win.

Kalpana did not drift for me to back in the Hardwicke Stakes; however, that saved my money. On the turn for home, Kalpana was going best but Colin Keane was left in front too far out and she was caught in the last fifty yards by Giavellotto, who had also beaten her in the September Stakes on the Kempton kitty litter.

Before the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, the bookies were going 2/1 each of two about the two fancied visitors; and I thought that just perfectly illustrated the utter stupidity of punters at Royal Ascot. One of the biggest sprints of the season and 66% of the book is two horses.

I cannot recall ever seeing what was effectively a four-way photo in a Group 1 contest (between horses from four nations). I have seen three-way photos – in fact somewhere, I have one!

I do not see why people are feeling sorry for the Japanese with Satono Reve going down by the width of a credit card. If Ryan Moore had kept a straight line from the gate instead of allowing himself to drift over towards the centre of the track where the main bunch were running then perhaps it might have been the width of a credit card in his favour.

Watching the Jersey Stakes, I was laughing. It has taken the midgets all week to realise that going off too hard means that you won’t be around at the business end of the race. A horse on the far side beat another horse on the far side and the pair of them were a mile clear. The Haggas talking horse never got into it leaving the money in the bookies’ satchels. My hold-up horse hardly got a mention as the front runners on the far side did not fold between the two and the one as they have been doing all week. At halfway the stands’ side group were leading but none of them were involved at the end.

And, wow, look where they came from in the Wokingham...