Latest news with #GroupOne
Leader Live
22 minutes ago
- Sport
- Leader Live
Time For Sandals pulls off Commonwealth Cup shock
The Newmarket handler struck for the very first time in Group One company with Docklands in the Queen Anne Stakes and wasted little time doubling that tally with a filly who was registering just her second career victory – and first since her debut last year. Sent off at 25-1 in the hands of Richard Kingscote, she cruised to the front on the far side with a furlong to run and showed great resolve to edge out Arizona Blaze by a neck with the supplemented Rayevka half a length further back in third. 'It's the first time she's had a fast horse to follow, I don't want to say (we were) very confident, but we felt like we hadn't seen the best from her for one reason or another,' said Eustace. 'The voice is in dire straits, I can assure you of that! She's always shaped to be pretty good and at home we felt we had excuses for her; she never ran a bad one, she was always right there but hadn't quite put it all together. 'We were always confident in a race like this where there would be fast horses taking her along, that's really what she needed; don't get me wrong, we didn't dream that we'd get here, but she was always pretty good.' He added: 'It's been extraordinary (the meeting), but that's the team at home, it's all the little things all the way through and I can't thank them enough. The owners will be in there, they're relatively new, this is the second ever horse they've had and they're pretty lucky people.' Kingscote – who won the Derby for Sir Michael Stoute on Desert Crown in 2022 – said: 'I've had nice horses to ride since Sir Michael retired, it was always going to be a year of building back up, I had a nice bit of support and I'm delighted to get on a filly like her. 'Last year she was a very unlucky placed horse in the Super Sprint and she progressed all the way through. She was unlucky last time I felt. 'She did a spectacular piece of work a couple of weeks ago at Newmarket and I'm delighted to ride Harry a big winner because he's a gentleman and his yard is such a happy yard. 'I'm delighted, he's a lovely man and his staff are always so positive and happy so it's great to get them a nice winner. He's only just trained his 100th winner, so I'd say two Group Ones at Royal Ascot is pretty special to him.' Arizona Blaze may have been 28-1, but did not surprise trainer Adrian Murray with his huge performance, with the Irish handler now eyeing a tilt at York's Nunthorpe Stakes later in the summer. 'Big run, but he never runs a bad race. He always turns up on the day so I'm delighted with him,' said Murray. 'He's very reliable. When he came home the last day he was a bit flat within himself, so he probably was a bit under the weather when he ran, we put that behind us and we were very confident of a good run. 'It was a huge price, I couldn't believe it! 'I think we'll go for the Nunthorpe, he's in the July Cup as well but I think we'll look at York.'
RTÉ News
32 minutes ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Royal Ascot wrap: Ethical Diamond sparkles for Willie Mullins in Duke of Edinburgh Stakes
Ethical Diamond made it a momentous day at Royal Ascot for Willie Mullins when powering down the outside to win the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes in the hands of Ryan Moore. Mullins and his wife Jackie had taken part in the royal procession before racing and his dual-purpose performer had no trouble in justifying 3-1 favouritism. Fourth last year, he was 2lb higher having also finished fourth in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham - but the result barely looked in doubt and he came home two lengths clear of Mutaawid and Naqeeb Harry Eustace's fine Royal Ascot continued when Time For Sandals blazed her way to Commonwealth Cup glory. The Newmarket handler struck for the very first time in Group One company with Docklands in the Queen Anne Stakes and wasted little time doubling that tally with a filly who was registering just her second career victory - and first since her debut last year. Sent off at 25-1 in the hands of Richard Kingscote, she cruised to the front on the far side with a furlong to run and showed great resolve to edge out Arizona Blaze by a neck with the supplemented Rayevka half a length further back in third. Venetian Sun backed up Karl Burke's confidence in her ability with a dominant display in the Albany Stakes. Ante-post favourite in the build up to the race following an impressive winning debut at Carlisle, she was sent off at 7-1 in the end with Burke having drawn a blank with several other fancied juvenile runners this week. She also had to overcome what looked a disadvantageous draw in stall one under Clifford Lee, yet despite having no cover, she was in front with a furlong to run and pulled a length and a half clear of Awaken and Balantina.
Daily Mirror
35 minutes ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Tributes paid to horse racing legend Kevin Prendergast after his death age 92
Kevin Prendergast, member of a famous racing dynasty, trained Classic winners in Ireland and Britain, and sent out his last runner just seven days ago Tributes have been paid to multiple Classic-winning trainer Kevin Prendergast, who died on Friday at the age of 92, two weeks short of 93rd birthday. Prendergast, who took out a licence in 1963, was the son of the legendary Paddy 'Darkie' Prendergast – the first Irish-based trainer to become champion in Britain in 1963 and who saddled the winners of all the British Classics except the Derby. Prendergast jnr cut his own swathe through the racing ranks, winning the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket with Nebbiolo in 1977 and taking the Irish equivalent twice, most recently with Awtaad in 2016. Like his father, he just missed out on the Derby when Madhmoon was beaten half a length by Anthony Van Dyck in 2019. Both Awtaad and Madhmoon ran in the colours of the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum's Shadwell operation and were ridden by Chris Hayes, who had a long association with Prendergast. He said: 'I started out calling him 'sir' and that moved on to boss and we had a very close relationship, especially in the latter years. He was like a father or grandfather figure and we spoke closely and candidly. 'The term legend is thrown about a bit loosely in this age and generation, but there is no other way to describe him. 'I had a second for him last week (aboard Glory To Be at Cork) and I was desperately hoping that our last ride together as it transpired would be a winning one, but we at least went out all guns blazing. 'I had a good chat with him afterwards and was actually planning to go in and sit on a few horses for him tomorrow so it's a sad day and I'm a little bit numb as I've known nothing but him in racing, it's a real end of an era.' Hayes' first Group One success for Prendergast was La Collina, but it is memories of their Classic success together at the Curragh nine years ago with Awtaad which the 37-year-old treasures most from their long association. Hayes continued: 'Awtaad's Guineas was phenomenal. It was the old Curragh and the cheer we got on the way in, I haven't heard one like it since. 'I've been around a while and I never heard a cheer like that before that either and that cheer was all for Kevin and solely Kevin. People say it was for us, but it wasn't, it was for Kevin. He's a legend around Kildare and a legend in the racing game and people were 10 deep around the winner's enclosure desperate to congratulate him." Shadwell's long-serving racing manager Angus Gold said: 'It's the end of an era and he was one of the great men of my lifetime, we had some wonderful days together. 'He was a huge character firstly, a consummate horseman and the horses invariably won best turned out. He was just a very good trainer. 'It was spectacular to see Awtaad win the Guineas and then he had Madhmoon nearly win the Derby, which he took very phlegmatically. 'The amount of stories he had, I used to love my mornings on the gallops with him. He knew what was going all all around the world as he had daughters living abroad. 'He'd seen it all, been there and done that. I went to see him about two months ago. He hadn't been very well last year but had made a remarkably recovery and was still sharp as a tack.'
North Wales Chronicle
37 minutes ago
- Sport
- North Wales Chronicle
Time For Sandals pulls off Commonwealth Cup shock
The Newmarket handler struck for the very first time in Group One company with Docklands in the Queen Anne Stakes and wasted little time doubling that tally with a filly who was registering just her second career victory – and first since her debut last year. Sent off at 25-1 in the hands of Richard Kingscote, she cruised to the front on the far side with a furlong to run and showed great resolve to edge out Arizona Blaze by a neck with the supplemented Rayevka half a length further back in third. 'It's the first time she's had a fast horse to follow, I don't want to say (we were) very confident, but we felt like we hadn't seen the best from her for one reason or another,' said Eustace. 'The voice is in dire straits, I can assure you of that! She's always shaped to be pretty good and at home we felt we had excuses for her; she never ran a bad one, she was always right there but hadn't quite put it all together. 'We were always confident in a race like this where there would be fast horses taking her along, that's really what she needed; don't get me wrong, we didn't dream that we'd get here, but she was always pretty good.' He added: 'It's been extraordinary (the meeting), but that's the team at home, it's all the little things all the way through and I can't thank them enough. The owners will be in there, they're relatively new, this is the second ever horse they've had and they're pretty lucky people.' Kingscote – who won the Derby for Sir Michael Stoute on Desert Crown in 2022 – said: 'I've had nice horses to ride since Sir Michael retired, it was always going to be a year of building back up, I had a nice bit of support and I'm delighted to get on a filly like her. 'Last year she was a very unlucky placed horse in the Super Sprint and she progressed all the way through. She was unlucky last time I felt. 'She did a spectacular piece of work a couple of weeks ago at Newmarket and I'm delighted to ride Harry a big winner because he's a gentleman and his yard is such a happy yard. 'I'm delighted, he's a lovely man and his staff are always so positive and happy so it's great to get them a nice winner. He's only just trained his 100th winner, so I'd say two Group Ones at Royal Ascot is pretty special to him.' Arizona Blaze may have been 28-1, but did not surprise trainer Adrian Murray with his huge performance, with the Irish handler now eyeing a tilt at York's Nunthorpe Stakes later in the summer. 'Big run, but he never runs a bad race. He always turns up on the day so I'm delighted with him,' said Murray. 'He's very reliable. When he came home the last day he was a bit flat within himself, so he probably was a bit under the weather when he ran, we put that behind us and we were very confident of a good run. 'It was a huge price, I couldn't believe it! 'I think we'll go for the Nunthorpe, he's in the July Cup as well but I think we'll look at York.'
Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Sport
- Powys County Times
Time For Sandals pulls off Commonwealth Cup shock
Harry Eustace's fine Royal Ascot continued when Time For Sandals blazed her way to Commonwealth Cup glory. The Newmarket handler struck for the very first time in Group One company with Docklands in the Queen Anne Stakes and wasted little time doubling that tally with a filly who was registering just her second career victory – and first since her debut last year. Sent off at 25-1 in the hands of Richard Kingscote, she cruised to the front on the far side with a furlong to run and showed great resolve to edge out Arizona Blaze by a neck with the supplemented Rayevka half a length further back in third. 'It's the first time she's had a fast horse to follow, I don't want to say (we were) very confident, but we felt like we hadn't seen the best from her for one reason or another,' said Eustace. 'The voice is in dire straits, I can assure you of that! She's always shaped to be pretty good and at home we felt we had excuses for her; she never ran a bad one, she was always right there but hadn't quite put it all together. 'We were always confident in a race like this where there would be fast horses taking her along, that's really what she needed; don't get me wrong, we didn't dream that we'd get here, but she was always pretty good.' He added: 'It's been extraordinary (the meeting), but that's the team at home, it's all the little things all the way through and I can't thank them enough. The owners will be in there, they're relatively new, this is the second ever horse they've had and they're pretty lucky people.' Kingscote – who won the Derby for Sir Michael Stoute on Desert Crown in 2022 – said: 'I've had nice horses to ride since Sir Michael retired, it was always going to be a year of building back up, I had a nice bit of support and I'm delighted to get on a filly like her. 'Last year she was a very unlucky placed horse in the Super Sprint and she progressed all the way through. She was unlucky last time I felt. 'She did a spectacular piece of work a couple of weeks ago at Newmarket and I'm delighted to ride Harry a big winner because he's a gentleman and his yard is such a happy yard. 'I'm delighted, he's a lovely man and his staff are always so positive and happy so it's great to get them a nice winner. He's only just trained his 100th winner, so I'd say two Group Ones at Royal Ascot is pretty special to him.' Arizona Blaze may have been 28-1, but did not surprise trainer Adrian Murray with his huge performance, with the Irish handler now eyeing a tilt at York's Nunthorpe Stakes later in the summer. 'Big run, but he never runs a bad race. He always turns up on the day so I'm delighted with him,' said Murray. 'He's very reliable. When he came home the last day he was a bit flat within himself, so he probably was a bit under the weather when he ran, we put that behind us and we were very confident of a good run. 'It was a huge price, I couldn't believe it! 'I think we'll go for the Nunthorpe, he's in the July Cup as well but I think we'll look at York.'
