News

Alverta and Nicconi head off for Global Challenge

27th May 2010

Stallions - Michelle Cullen - Thursday, 27 May 2010

Classy sprinters Alverta and Nicconi have left Australia and have safely completed the first leg of a journey that will see them touch down in England.

Preparations for both horses have gone well as they head towards Newmarket’s famous heath before they run at Royal Ascot. Nicconi (Bianconi ex Nicola Lass by Scenic) is scheduled to run in the Group I Kings Stand Stakes (1000m) and Alverta (Flying Spur ex Grilse by Rahy) in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes (1200m). Veterinarian, Dr John Walker and strappers accompany the horses on the long flight.

Trainers Paul Messara and David Hayes leave for England after racing this weekend.

The meeting at Royal Ascot meeting will be covered by TVN and Sky Racing, and runs from Tuesday 15th through to Saturday, June 19th.

Royal Ascot is one of Britain’s most glamorous meetings with an amalgam of high fashion, regal pageantry and top-class sport - and this year’s fixture promises to be enthralling.

Day One features three Group 1 races the £300,000 King’s Stand Stakes, £250,000 Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) and the £250,000 St James’s Palace Stakes (1600m). Also on the card are the £100,000 Group 2 Coventry Stakes (1200m) and the £50,000 Listed Windsor Castle Stakes (1000m), both for two-year-olds. The day’s big handicap is the Ascot Stakes (4000m).

The second day features five black-type races with the highlight being the £450,000 Group I Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (2000m). There are two Group 2 features the £125,000 Windsor Forest Stakes (1600m) and the £90,000 Queen Mary Stakes (1000m). The £80,000 Group 3 Jersey Stakes (1400m) and the historic Royal Hunt Cup, also run over 1600m, is the day’s handicap.

Day Three, traditionally regarded as Ladies’ Day, has the Group 1 Gold Cup as its feature race. Run over 4,000m, it is worth £250,000. Two Group 2 events are also included on the card - the £125,000 Ribblesdale Stakes (2400m) for three-year-old fillies and the £90,000 Norfolk Stakes (1000m) for two-year-olds. The card features two handicaps, the £100,000 Britannia Stakes (1600m) and £50,000 King George V Stakes (2400m).

Five more black-type races feature on the Day Four, the most valuable being the £250,000 Group 1 Coronation Stakes, a 1600m event for three-year-old fillies. The £150,000 King Edward VII Stakes (2400m) carries Group 2 status, while both the £70,000 Queen’s Vase (3200m) and the £70,000 Albany Stakes (1200m) are designated Group 3. The £50,000 Listed Wolferton Stakes (2000m) and the £50,000 Buckingham Palace Stakes (1400m) complete the schedule.

The Group 1 highlight on Day Five is the £450,000 Golden Jubilee Stakes (1200m), the second British leg of the Global Sprint Challenge. The £125,000 Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes (2400m) and the £50,000 Listed Chesham Stakes (1400m), while the £50,000 Queen Alexandra Stakes (4600m) is the longest race at the meeting. Two handicaps feature on the card - the £100,000 Wokingham Stakes and £50,000 Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes.

Although Royal Ascot does grab most of the racing headlines from 15th-19th that does not mean it’s the only meeting worthy of note in Britain during June.

On Friday June 4th, it is the first day of the famous Epsom Derby meeting, with the £350,000 Group I Oaks, for fillies, and the Coronation Cup, worth £225,000, both are run over 2400m.

Last year Sariska (Pivotal ex Maycocks Bay by Muhtarram), won the Oaks and later went on to complete a double in the Irish Oaks. Ask (Sadler’s Wells ex Request by Rainbow Quest), won the Coronation Cup and he was the subsequent hero of Longhcamp’s Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak.

If you thought the preceding days racing was fantastic, then the only word for Saturday, June 5th, is superb, as the highlight is the £1.25m Investec Derby, Britain’s premier Classic.

Won last season by the world’s undisputed champion three-year-old Sea The Stars (Cape Cross ex Urban Sea by Miswaki), this 2400m event, run on an undulating course with turns to both the right and left, is internationally accepted as the supreme test of a thoroughbred.

Epsom’s fine card also includes ‘The Dash’, a £75,000 Heritage handicap run over 1000m, and the £65,000 Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes (1700m).