Final fields were drawn up Sunday for Tuesday’s opening day program of Royal Ascot 2008.
The curtain-raising Queen Anne S. (Eng-G1) attracted 11 headed by the Alain de Royer-Dupre-trained
duo of
SAGEBURG (Johannesburg) and DARJINA (Zamindar).
Aidan O’Brien starts
the meeting off
with a trio headed by Coolmore and Frank Tagg’s HARADASUN (Fusaichi
Pegasus), who
provides the first taste of the ever-strong Antipodean presence. Twice a winner
at the highest
level in his native country, the five-year-old has built up a considerable
reputation and this will
be his first encounter with a fast summer surface since coming under the revered
auspices of
the Ballydoyle conditioner.
“I think that he is very, very good, and on his day
in Australia he
had a terrific, unbelievable turn of foot, which very few horses possess and he
was almost
unbeatable,” Tagg told PA Sport. “He is pretty exceptional and, hopefully, he
can show the
racing public at Ascot his true form.”
Three of the last five renewals of the
King’s Stand
S., which is now a Group 1, have gone Down Under, and the latest edition has
attracted the big Australian names once more. In addition to Haradasun, stalwart
TAKEOVER TARGET (Celtic Swing) is back for owner/ trainer Joe Janiak.
The nine-year-old is joined by arch-rival MAGNUS (Flying Spur), who
is
set to run his last race for the Peter Moody team. Magnus was a place ahead of
the veteran 12 months ago when third to Miss Andretti in the five-furlong
contest, and his trainer is wiser to the challenge ahead this time.
“He is in
great
shape and has traveled well,” Moody said. “He ran a tremendous race in the
King’s
Stand last year, but I think he came a little bit underprepared as I wasn’t
sure how
he would cope with the traveling and what training to do with him. This time
round, we’re targeting one race and he’s come here a much fitter horse, so
hopefully he can go out with a bang.”
In the St James’s Palace S. (Eng-G1), O’Brien provides the first day’s hottest
favorite in
Susan Magnier’s HENRYTHENAVIGATOR (Kingmambo), who bids to follow in the
illustrious footsteps of the stable’s Rock of Gibraltar (Ire) by adding this
prize to the English (Eng-G1) and Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1) titles. While only seven will take on the
likely
odds-on favorite tomorrow, they include the Wertheimer brothers’ Poule
d’Essai
des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) (Fr-G1) hero FALCO (Pivotal) and Khalid
Abdullah’s Craven S. (Eng-G3) winner TWICE OVER (Observatory).
Ascot clerk of the course Chris
Stickels is expecting near-perfect starting conditions for the five-day
extravaganza.
“The forecast has been hit-and-miss and, although we could get showers during
the
week, we’ve had lovely drying days and it is getting quicker,” he explained. “We
aim to start on good-to-firm ground and, if we don’t get any rain today, we’ll
be
putting some water on the straight course to maintain it.”