King Charles and Queen Camilla – when they were Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall – at Royal Ascot in 2018. Credit: WireImage/Karwai Tang
Royal Ascot will feel a little different this year. This will be the king's debut meeting as a monarch; a role markedly different from what it was during the life of his mother.
Elizabeth II was a devoted fan of racing. Her gleeful look when Estimate won the Ascot Gold Cup 10 years ago, the most iconic image of a royal meeting of all time.
Royal Ascot was very much about the late queen, with her family hovering backstage. On the one hand, the then Prince of Wales had to make sure that he did not “interfere” with his mother, and on the other hand, he had to appear and look vaguely interested.
Queen Elizabeth II's gleeful look as the Estimate won the 2013 Ascot Gold Cup is the most iconic image of the meeting ever. Photo: Indigo/Max Mumby
Racing will hope that now he is a monarch, either he or the queen will take over his mother's mantle. But it is difficult to understand how the King's metamorphoses can occur if he has nothing to worry about.
The races will desperately need the King to find a winner so he can show himself. emotions we saw from his mother in 2013. However, I suspect that the queen, who, like the royal princess, is truly a “horse”, will be the one who will keep the monarchy at the heart of the sport.
But as much as she loves horses, watching them finish in the middle of the division gets tiring after a while. Let's face it, most people pay a fortune to train horses because they want the thrill of winning.
The two best chances the royal colors have this week at the royal meeting. The Saga on the Stakes of Wolferton on Tuesday or the Circle of Fire on the Stakes of Edward VII on Friday.
Two stars not performing this week are Emily Upjohn, trained by John and Thaddy Gosden, and Soul Sister. Emily Upjohn had a great time when she won the Coronation Cup in Epsom. As she accelerated in a straight line, she surpassed the track and distance record for that part of the race. Just think of how many outstanding Derby winners she has overtaken on this part of the track.
Emily Upjohn is now Eclipse's favorite at Sundown, where she will not face fellow Soul Sister stablemate. The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth competition on July 29 over a mile and a half against older horses will be a possible race for both of these fillies if all goes according to plan.
But it can be assumed that the Gosdens will want to separate them, at least until the autumn Arc de Triomphe, as well as Frankie Dettori. Even he can only ride one horse in a race.
One horse that will work for Royal Ascot is Camden Colt. It was bought by a startup tech company (which I'm affiliated with) in Camden that plans to launch a virtual horse racing game next year. The idea was to give techies who didn't know anything about racing but knew a lot about algorithms real-world experience with the factors and subsequent decisions a coach has to make when campaigning with a horse; choice of course, track, jockey, race distance, training schedule, etc.
As a result of the foal's brilliant performance at home ever since he hit the Epsom stall, Richard Hannon identified three jumps he could go for at the royal meeting: Norfolk, Windsor Castle or Coventry. The first two are over five furlongs, Coventry over six. Windsor Castle is just a listed race and Coventry is a second group competition. So one might assume that the former is an easier target.
Success at the more valuable Coventry would also make the Camden Colt much more valuable. But how do you balance that with finding the easiest target and just hitting the winner's enclosure?
All this information and what he saw at home was fed into the human algorithm that is Hannon, and the answer is that he will compete in the Coventry Stakes. Make it what you want.
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