Royal Ascot opened with favorites wins
One of the biggest racing festivals of the season, Royal Ascot, kicked off 16 june 2020 in the UK. Usually the stands for several thousand people are unusually empty – restrictions on holding public events in the UK continue to apply but the British horse racing is interesting regardless of the number of spectators. Especially when champions meet on the track. And on the first day of the Royal Escort, the crackers participated literally in each of the races. The focus, of course, was Queen Anne Stakes 1 mile and King’s Stand Stakes sprint prize.
Among the milers, Aidan O’Brien’s favorite circus maximus was Circus Maximus. A year ago, he won a three-year-old horse race at the festival. James’s Palace Stakes (Gr.1), and today was seriously determined to fight with older rivals in Queen Anne Stakes. Like a year ago, the jump turned out to be difficult.
The sprint jump turned out to be less intense for the favorite team. Charles Hills Battaash has already tried twice to win King’s Stand Stakes and finished second both times. So he had enough competitive experience, it only remained to realize it.
Of course, it’s too early to talk about further plans, but Charles Hills hinted to the press that he was going to come with Battaash to the Glorious Goodwod race festival to win King George Stakes (Gr.2) for the fourth time in a row. Circus Maximus will also be preparing for Goodwood. According to Aidan O’Brien, the stallion is likely to take part in the Qatar Sussex Stakes. By the way, John Gosden planned to record Terebellum in the same jump, so we are waiting for a rematch.