Teal relishing Royal Ascot rematch for Dancing Gemini

The four-year-old was the 2-1 favourite after a superb campaign so far this season, with his reappearance a straightforward success in the Listed Doncaster Mile and his next run a Group Two victory in the bet365 Mile at Sandown.
Rosallion, triumphant in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the St James's Palace Stakes last year, was considered his main rival, but it was Lead Artist – who was last of eight behind Teal's runner at Sandown – who came to the fore to prevail by a neck.
Dancing Gemini still ran a fine race in second as Rosallion came home two and a quarter lengths back in third, and it looks probable the trio will meet again for another clash in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
'He's taken it very well, there's not a bother on him. He's eaten up and is fresh and well,' Teal said of his colt.
'He lost nothing in defeat, really, just prize money! It was a fantastic run.
'I can't help but feel a little bit gutted to get beaten by so small a margin, but hopefully he'll have his day soon enough.
'It'll be straight to Ascot for us, straight to the rematch in the Queen Anne.'
Dancing Gemini's fortunes have mirrored those of last year's crack miler Charyn thus far, with the grey winning both events at Doncaster and Sandown before narrowly missing out at Newbury.
Charyn then turned the tables and emerged victorious at the Royal meeting, something Teal is hoping can happen to his son of Camelot next month.
'The pattern has stayed the same so far, I had hoped he wouldn't copy Charyn so literally!' he said.
'It bodes well and we hope we can go and get our revenge. He's very, very smart and I'm sure he's going to have his day.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Metro

2 hours ago

• Metro

Surfing on the north coast of Ireland, I learned an important life lesson

Ricky Martin told me to trust him as he shoved me onto a surfboard and told me I wasn't going to drown. I can't swim. I'm pushing 30 and I don't even know how to float, something not helped by watching Titanic when I was four. But as Ricky, my 45-year-old surf instructor for the day reminded me, the ocean we are standing in on the coast of Northern Ireland was barely above my knees. He spotted a promising wave and told me to get ready to pop up, moving from a push-up into a crouched stance, on my foam board. I paddled and up I went, fighting every instinct to look down at the sea below. My first ride lasted only a few seconds, but for a moment, I didn't have time to second-guess myself or overthink. You do it, or you don't. And I did it. Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here. Unlike me, Ricky always pictured himself as a surfer. 'When I was younger, there was no such thing as surf schools, let alone lifeguards on the beach,' he tells me at his school on the West Strand. 'My parents said I had to be a good swimmer and I could start when I was 14.' 'I got a surfboard for Christmas. I turned 14 in January, it was the most stoked I've ever been, and that was it. I've lived in the sea ever since.' That's why he created the surf school Alive Adventures, to help people experience the freeing thrill of riding a wave. As an urban beach, the Portrush waves are smaller and more manageable to learn on. 'Getting in the water is good for your mental and physical health,' Martin says. 'I think everyone should do it.' There are many people like Ricky in Northern Ireland, keen to show that the country isn't just Game of Thrones shoot locations, pints and rain. Rather, it's a place away from mounting emails and procrastination where you can finally say, you know what, why not? This was my mantra when I boarded a flight to Belfast from London Gatwick on a Wednesday in May: give it a shot, no matter how anxious I was, something my therapist has long begged me to do. That, and tell every Irish person I meet that I'm a 'quarter Irish'. After delivering said line to a taxi driver, I stepped out in front of Room2 Belfast, my home for the night ahead of my tour of the country's northeast coast. The next morning, I checked out to hike around Glenariff Forest Park, in the North Antrim Hills, about an hour's drive from the capital. Woods, rivers and walking trails fringed with garlic and strawberries make up the 1,200-hectare area, seven times the size of Hyde Park. 'It looks like something out of a movie,' Victoria Canavan, our guide from Tourism NI, tells us in front of Ess-Na-Crub Waterfall. 'You're just waiting for a mermaid to pop out.' Victoria says leaving the office behind to feel the grass beneath her feet is common in Northern Ireland, easy to do in a country where greenery is as common as existential crises are these days. Horses are another way to get around. But my steed, Ranger, wasn't going anywhere. Not when there was food next to him. Ranger, one of 150 horses at Shean's Horse Farm in Ballymoney, was holding back our group by constantly nibbling on the grass. To be fair, if food were around me all the time, I'd do the same. Melissa McCollan, 43, who's worked at Shean's for six years, says people come from all over the world to see Northern Ireland on horseback. 'You won't get any experience in the world, like look at it,' she says, gesturing at the hillside as Ranger, of course, was eating. 'Even in the rain, it looks beautiful. 'Some people come for their background and heritage because everyone's got a bit of Irish in them. We're all so amazing that yous' are all descended from us.' It turns out that horse riding, which famously consists of sitting, is one hell of a workout. Exhausted, we drove 20 minutes to the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle to rest. Many tourists flock to the port town to see the most mythical of actual creatures: puffins. Seven miles off the shore is Rathlin Island, where puffins, seals and dolphins dive in sun-silvered waters while lighthouses keep watch. Charles Stewart, 55, and Dawn Hines, 'under 40', are taking me for a boat tour of the island on Friday. The Kinatra Boat Tours founders are joined by patient bird-watchers hoping to spot the island's predatory birds. 'The basking sharks always bring a smile to people's faces,' says Charles. 'We once saw a minke whale, it was amazing.' Dawn, a marine biologist, adds: 'Nature is vital to us and we love it, Rathlin is ever-changing.' The day then became a lot more Irish. It started bucketing down as we drove to the setting of this year's Open, Royal Portrush Golf Club. Pro Gary McNeil taught me how to swing a golf club without sending the ball into the car park. The sea was steel-grey the next morning as I left the hotel for the Giant's Causeway, said to have been formed by the trampling of the mythical, 54-foot-tall giant Benandonner. Stories are everywhere in Northern Ireland, explains James Neil, 38, a visitor experience officer with the National Trust. 'Generations of people have told these stories for a very long time and it gives us a sense of place,' he says, adding that his favourite legend is one of a nagging grandmother turned to stone by Benandonner. 'Myths are important – they connect us to our past.' Portrush was the final leg of my coastal tour, where we had a booking that day at the four-star Elephant Rock Hotel. One surf lesson later, we spent the evening eating fish and chips and arancini at the restaurant, Shanty Portrush, looking out at the dragon-back rocks and rain-whipped seas. A pub rammed with neon Guinness signs – where Victoria had her first date with her partner – was our final spot of the tour. A true Irish send-off. Come Sunday morning, I got ready for my flight. Killing time at the airport, I rummage in my suitcase: A puffin hat, a golf ball and swim trunks still smelling of seawater. That's when something Ricky had said came back to me. One of my goals in therapy is, pretty simply, to do karaoke. The thought of being up on a stage, screeching Love Shack by the B-52s, is terrifying. Ricky knows everyone has fears that stop them from doing small things, which is why he set up an activity provider in a town of only 6,000. More Trending So, if I can surf or go horse riding, why can't I do other things like sing in front of people? 'We bring people from around the world and help them with their mental health,' Ricky said, 'and when I see them blossom, I just love it.' If they can blossom, I think to myself as I board, then I can, too. Josh Milton was a guest of Tourism Ireland. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: I fell head over heels for Europe's last hidden gem — it just got easier to explore MORE: Map reveals UK cheating hotspot where the most people have been unfaithful MORE: I went to the world's wettest Pride parade where everyone gets soaked

The Herald Scotland

3 hours ago

• The Herald Scotland

BBC Alba to expand into Gaelic feature film production

A new feature film development fund is being created months after the Scottish Government agreed to put an additional £1.8 million into MG Alba, which operates the Gaelic channel in partnership with the BBC, to 'build on the success' of An t-Eilean (The Island) since the launch of the murder mystery series in January. Read more: MG Alba also wants to emulate the success of Cine4, a groundbreaking Irish language film development scheme, which has produced eight feature films since it was launched in 2017 by broadcaster TG4, Screen Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The Herald can reveal that a second series of An t-Eilean, which starred Sorcha Groundsell, Sagar Radia, Iain Macrae and Meredith Brook, is already in development. The four-part drama, which was commissioned by BBC Alba, was snapped up by international distributors All3Media International before filming had even started in Lewis and Harris, and had a budget of more than £1 million per episode. Sorcha Groundsell starred in the Gaelic drama series An t-Eilean, which was launched in January. The show, which followed an investigation into the murder of the wife of a wealthy islander at their historic mansion, was later acquired by BBC Four and was described as the UK's first major Gaelic language drama when it premiered. An t-Eilean, which was described as a 'game-changer' by BBC Alba when it was commissioned, went on to win two major honours at the European broadcasting awards, Prix CIRCOM, in Barcelona in May. Meredith Brook and Sorcha Groundsell starred in the BBC Alba series An t-Eilean. At the time, Screen Scotland hailed its popularity and recognition as "an incredible vote of confidence in the strength of Gaelic language drama.' The collaboration between BBC Alba and BBC Scotland on the new short-form dramas, which is expected to see successful projects go into production this year, was announced last November. Kate Forbes met BBC Alba staff at the BBC's Pacific Quay headquarters in February when she announced additional funding of £1.8m for Gaelic broadcasting. (Image: BBC Alba) The Scottish Government subsequently approved an additional £1.8m for MG Alba, which was announced weeks after the launch of An t-Eilean. At the time, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said the show's success "demonstrates how supporting a thriving Gaelic broadcasting sector can bring international interest to Scotland." She added: "This extra funding will enable Gaelic broadcasters to build on existing high-quality content and attract new audiences." The BBC's recently-published annual plan states that BBC Alba will be working with BBC Film to develop feature film ideas. Margaret Cameron, director of content at MG Alba, told The Herald: "We have had really positive discussions so far with BBC Film and Screen Scotland. Everybody is very keen to make it happen. "Off the back of An t-Eilean, this is the next natural step for BBC Alba. It punched through at a level that was just amazing for us and the BBC really got behind it. "We would be crazy if we weren't already considering how to take the next natural step forward from An t-Eilean. "Films can travel even more than TV, they are economic generators and they are also a sign of confidence." Read more: The BBC Alba feature film initiative, which is expected to be backed by BBC Film and the government agency Screen Scotland, will also be promoted at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August. It has been developed after BBC Alba and BBC Scotland joined forces to launch a new two-year partnership worth £800,000 to make new 'digital first' short-form Gaelic dramas aimed at younger viewers. Ms Cameron said: "We are hugely encouraged by what our Irish cousins are doing with the Cine4 feature film development scheme. "It's all about drawing together different partners these days - no-one can do feature film production on their own these days. Everybody has to work in partnership with someone else. "From an absolute zero start, developing a script, getting a film funded and made, and then released you are talking about at least a three-year cycle. "The first stage when we launch this will be a call-out for feature film development ideas. "We will be looking for ideas that are relatable, but also sellable. The thing that we're really keen on is that Gaelic talent is at the heart of it. "The writer must have Gaelic and we will want the majority of the script to be in Gaelic. "If we are very lucky and we have sufficient funding from our partners then we may find we are able to develop more than one film. It would be fantastic to have more than one horse on the field." Glasgow-based Black Camel Pictures, producers of the marine crime drama Annika and queer romance series Float, secured the BBC Alba commission for An t-Eilean, which was written by Nicholas Osborne and Patsi Mackenzie. Ms Cameron said: 'A second series of An t-Eilean is in development. It's looking very positive and we are very confident that something will come from it. "We would love to have another series of An t-Eilean and we have plans for some other new dramas as well."

Scottish Sun

14 hours ago

• Scottish Sun

Dump Kneecap from Glastonbury line-up demands Starmer after member of group charged with terror offence

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE Prime Minister has called for Glastonbury to axe Kneecap from its line-up after a band member was charged with a terror offence. Sir Keir Starmer said it is 'not appropriate' for the Irish hip hop group to cash in at the festival. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Sign up 2 The PM has called for Glastonbury to axe Irish hip hop group Kneecap from its line-up Credit: Getty 2 Sir Keir Starmer says it is 'not appropriate' for them to cash in at the festival Credit: Getty Rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh, appeared in court last week accused of displaying a flag in support of banned terror group Hezbollah at a gig. O hAnnaidh, 27, who goes by the stage name Mo Chara, was bailed until later in the summer — leaving him free to play at Glastonbury. Asked by The Sun on Sunday if he thinks Kneecap should play, the PM, left, said: 'No I don't. 'I think we need to come down really clearly on this. I won't say too much, because there's a court case on, but I don't think that's appropriate.' The Belfast group are due to play the West Holts Stage on Saturday. Bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh have supported O hAnnaidh. They said at court: 'For anybody going to Glastonbury, you can see us there at 4pm on Saturday. 'If you can't be there we'll be on the BBC. Most importantly: free, free Palestine.' The BBC last night faced pressure not to air Kneecap's set, after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: 'It should not be rewarding extremism.' A spokesman for the broadcaster said: 'Decisions on our output will be made in the lead up to the festival.'