Two Old Races, Back to Back
Royal Ascot’s fourth day has a habit of asking horses to prove themselves against history rather than just the field beside them. Friday’s card paired the Coronation Stakes with the King Edward VII Stakes in the same afternoon, and between them those two races have been part of the furniture at this meeting for the best part of two centuries. Walk into the paddock on this day and you’re standing somewhere a lot of famous names have stood before you.
The King Edward VII Stakes goes back to 1834, when it was known simply as the Ascot Derby. It only picked up its current name in 1926, in memory of the King who had died six years earlier, but the old nickname still gets used around the track for good reason: it’s run at the same mile-and-a-half-plus trip as the Epsom Derby, just a couple of weeks later, and it regularly attracts horses that lined up at Epsom looking for a second chance over the same ground. For a three-year-old colt, there’s no softer way to put it — this is a race that rewards a horse who stays.
The Coronation Stakes is older still in spirit if not quite in vintage, dating to 1840 and struck to commemorate Queen Victoria’s coronation two years earlier. It’s the fillies’ equivalent of a Guineas decider — a mile for the best three-year-old fillies in Europe, most of whom arrive having already had a say in the 1,000 Guineas or its Irish or French equivalents. It’s carried Group 1 status since 1988, and on a week built around pageantry, it’s one of the purest tests of speed and class on the whole card.
Friday’s Card Played Its Part
Both races lived up to the billing. Causeway put himself into the King Edward VII Stakes picture with a strong-finishing success, while Precise took the Coronation Stakes for connections who know this meeting well, with True Love chasing home in third to keep it an interesting finish. Earlier on the card, Venetian Sun made all the right noises in winning the Commonwealth Cup, and Bacio — flying the flag for an American stable, a reminder that Royal Ascot’s pull stretches well beyond Berkshire these days — took the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes with Warrant Holder chasing him home. Sun Goddess ran on into second in the Albany Stakes to round out a card that had a result worth talking about in nearly every race.
The Rest of the Day’s Racing
While Ascot drew the cameras, the rest of British racing carried on regardless. Market Rasen ran a full jumps card of hurdles and chases — a reminder that National Hunt racing doesn’t pause for the flat season’s biggest week — while Ayr, Goodwood, Newmarket and Redcar all staged their own meetings, each with a result that mattered just as much to the people involved as anything happening under the Royal Enclosure. That’s the texture of a British raceday: one meeting gets the headlines, but racing itself never stops to notice.
If you’re following today’s Royal Ascot card, the full racecard and form guide is at cfox.co.za/predictions-uk.
