The Queen | Horse Racing Free Tips

Redvers: ‘Haziya our Best Chance but Mangoustine the one we Want Most’

David Redvers, racing manager for Qatar Racing, has put forward Wednesday's Kensington Palace S. favourite Haziya (Ire) (Le Havre {Ire}) as being Sheikh Fahad's best chance of having a winner at Royal Ascot, but revealed the week will be defined by how G1 French 1000 Guineas heroine Mangoustine (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) performs in the G1 Coronation S. on Friday.

Mangoustine carried former NBA star Tony Parker's black and white silks to victory in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches at ParisLongchamp last month and Redvers, who bought the filly as a yearling for just €46,000, is looking forward to seeing how she performs later in the week.

Along with Parker, the Mikel Delzangles-trained Mangoustine is owned by Monceaux Stud and Qatar Racing and, despite being available at odds as big as 10-1, she is expected to put up a bold show in what is shaping up to be one of the races of the week.

Redvers said, “It could be one of the races of the week. If the ground gets very quick, perhaps it will cut up a little, as there is a lot of talk that the Irish Guineas winner [Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB})] won't run if the ground is too fast. It's a hell of a contest.”

He added, “We bought Zotilla (Zamindar), the dam of Mangoustine, in partnership with Lordship Stud and Monceaux at the Arqana December Sale in 2014. She was a lovely mare, very athletic, and possibly a little bit hot temperment-wise, but she had the most amazing action.

“We then sold her because Henri [Bozo]'s model for Monceaux is a good one in that, if they [mares] are not producing winners, he just outs them. That's why Zotilla was sold.

“But this filly [Mangoustine] was an absolute beauty and we decided to buy her back up to a certain level because we had to buy out Lordship Stud who weren't interested in racing her.

“We bought out Lordship and Henri made a deal with [trainer] Frederic Rossi. Shortly after that, it was decided to bring in Tony Parker as a partner, because the filly was so nice and everyone is so keen for his operation to have a good horse. It all worked quite well.”

To say it has worked well is an understatement. Parker, one of the most successful basketball players of the modern era, brings a new fanbase to the sport and the decision to put him into Mangoustine has proved an inspired one.

Redvers said, “It's been great. Nobody can ever imagine the way these things will work out and we'd all be lying if we knew we were steering Tony into a Guineas winner. We knew she was a lovely filly with a proper pedigree and by a proper sire. She's a hugely exciting race filly and equally exciting broodmare prospect.”

Moungoustine was moved to Mikel Delzangles earlier this year after her previous trainer, Frederic Rossi, lost his licence. Delzangles, best known in Britain for his exploits with G1 2000 Guineas winner Makfi (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), endured a period in the wilderness but Mangoustine's Guineas win represented a new dawn for the yard.

Redvers said, “It's well documented that Frederic lost his licence and we needed to find another trainer. Luckily, everyone agreed on Mikel, as he had done an amazing job for us in the past so luckily it has all come full circle.

“By his own admission, he was in the doldrums for a little while, but it's fantastic to see him back. Not only is he a master trainer, he's also a complete gentleman, and we really felt for him during the period when his horses weren't terribly healthy.”

He added, “Whatever problem held them back before, they seem to be over that, and it's great to see Mikel back to his glory days. It's wonderful to see all of his horses running well again and we're looking forward to Mangoustine this week.”

Mangoustine may be the one that matters most but, according to Redvers, the Joseph O'Brien-trained Haziya is Qatar Racing's best chance of a winner this week.

He said, “We were looking at horses who had serious chances in some of the races and she stood out. I've got to say, she was a shrewd acquisition by Joseph in November [cost just €36,000 at Goffs] so hopefully she might win. She is probably our best chance of a winner for the entire week.”

On the rest of their team, Redvers said, “Emotion (GB) (Frankel {GB}) runs in the G2 Queen's Vase. She's a homebred who won by half the track at Kempton. She got found slightly wanting at Goodwood, where she didn't really handle the conditions, but Ascot will play to her strengths.

“We're partners in Silencer (Ire) (Kessaar {Ire}), who is a breeze-up horse we bought with James Harron. Hopefully he'll be able to give the Australians a bit of fun in the Windsor Castle. Friday is really our big day with Mangoustine. She's the one we're all really excited about.”

The post Redvers: ‘Haziya our Best Chance but Mangoustine the one we Want Most’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Lighting the Torch at Royal Ascot

Charlie Appleby calls it “the Olympics” and few would challenge that claim. Royal Ascot has been too long enmeshed in the fabric of British culture to be anything other than a truly special occasion, but in the Platinum Jubilee year it has even greater allure, a higher purpose. Four of the top nine horses in the World's Best Racehorse Rankings, including the one who sits atop, will be here this week and several more that have yet to reveal themselves as members of that exclusive club. We will know them all by the end of Saturday, but before then all the currently unknown scenarios will go through this meeting's glorious process of exposure and development. There will be formalities, probably as soon as the very first race, but also surprises and the whole range in between as the pick of the Thoroughbred population are at stretch over this hallowed land. All ages, both sexes, several nations, all racing styles. There will be time to marvel at rapidity of the fast-twitch kind, at the long-drawn-out sagas of the staying races, the dynamic poise of the milers and life at the cutting edge for the middle-distance maestros. There is a leading Australian sprinter, an ingredient much missed at the meeting in recent times, the now-customary U.S. contingent and the normal heavy representation from Europe's major operations both entrenched and newly-formed but with the same appetite.

Reach For the Stars

With temperatures set to soar and freedom of movement fully restored, the pinnacle of the English racing scene is back where it belongs in the public consciousness. Of course, where that is concerned the key event could actually come on Thursday with Reach For the Moon (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) who is much the most likely source of The Queen's 25th Royal Ascot winner in the G3 Hampton Court S. It is fair to say that without a success in those colours the week will have a hole in it, whatever the achievements of Baaeed (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), Nature Strip (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}), Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) and Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), so it is in the lap of the gods as to how that plays out. In the final analysis, The Queen has long proven her ability to deal with reversals and her appreciation of the week's parade of luminaries runs deep enough to counter any personal disappointments.

Paying Homage

If it is to be the perfect week, then surely there can only be one outcome to the opening G1 Queen Anne S. and that will be Baaeed's private eulogy delivered to his late owner-breeder Sheikh Hamdan. With little in the way of threatening opposition on Tuesday, the key factor will be how far the forecast 1-5 shot can put himself out of reach in the World Rankings and how much he can bridge the still-sizeable gap to Frankel's elevated level. When horses get this far in advance of their peers, they are in some ways racing their own ghosts and with normal improvement from Newbury's G1 Lockinge S. May 14 he looks to put the fear into the crop of 3-year-olds looking for a potential fight in next month's G1 Sussex S. Fittingly, Baaeed's heritage goes back to The Queen's Height of Fashion (Fr) (Bustino {GB}), the remarkable fount of such glory for Shadwell Estate following the transaction between the ruling monarch and the Maktoum family kingpin back in the 1980s.

Select Crew For Haggas

After Baaeed there are just two other Somerville Lodge representatives on day one, but they are a potentially formidable duo in their own right in Sunderland Holding's May 19 Listed Heron S. winner My Prospero (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) and Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's May 22 G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas) winner Maljoom (Ire) (Caravaggio) in the G1 St James's Palace S. The former would be providing his owners with a breakthrough Royal Ascot winner if he can get to Godolphin's 2000 Guineas hero Coroebus and there was much to like about the way he subdued Reach For the Moon at Sandown in a race that is becoming increasingly important as a stepping stone to this prestige event. Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}) took the Heron in 2018 before annexing this, while a year later King of Comedy (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) narrowly missed out on the double. He is drawn on the verges of acceptability in seven, with the last nine winners housed either in that stall or lower, whereas Maljoom has stall eight but is a habitual slow-starter so was unlikely to gain any advantage drawn towards the rail. He is a strong-finisher, however, as he proved in Cologne and it would be a huge shot in the arm for the German Classic if he is to overturn the English Guineas winner here. The form that the Haggas stable is in at present, it couldn't be written off. “They are two improving young three-year-olds and it's a very prestigious race, so they are entitled to have a shot,” their trainer said. “They've got a lot to find to beat Coroebus, but they are going the right way. Maljoom would be the faster of the pair, but My Prospero will stay well.”

The Stand-Off

Royal Ascot's metamorphosis from its rather staid past format into the up-to-date celebration of versatility it is now was helped in large part by the arrival of the sprinting megalith Choisir (Aus) back in 2003 and by the onslaught of Wesley Ward's raiders from 2009 onwards. Internationalisation really took hold of racing from the end of the last century and there is no way back from here, so it is apt that the G1 King's Stand S. boils down to an Australia-US drag race. Ward has placed Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) on a pedestal and he has been gifted a favourable high draw in 13 and a slick surface not always a guarantee at this meeting in recent times. Irad Ortiz is charged with getting the minutiae of pace-setting dead right and perhaps his best chance is if he can stay out of range of the Australian slugger Nature Strip. His is the direct line to glory and he has to not falter, as he did in York's G1 Nunthorpe S. in August. “He's a fast horse, so he's going to break like he always does and we'll just try not to go too fast early,” Ward said. “Whether it was Irad or Frankie Dettori or Lester Piggott on this horse, it's just a question of easing him back after the break and for the first three eighths you just want to go as easy as possible because whoever is going to be up there with him is going to pay the price. The thing about bringing Irad over here to ride this particular horse is he knows the horse very, very well and the horse responds well to him–they're undefeated.”

And It's No Nay Never

From the end of the last century, Royal Ascot has played regular host to some big names with dirt pedigrees and there is something in the turf that seems to sit well with the Storm Cat sire line. Through the 2001 G3 Norfolk S. winner Johannesburg, to Scat Daddy's No Nay Never, Caravaggio, Lady Aurelia, Sioux Nation and Acapulco, the meeting has come to represent something of a target for outrageously precocious juveniles with a power edge over their generation. No Nay Never's 2013 success in the Norfolk, when it was a group 2 as it is now, was won the hard way and he is a sire of precious material that Coolmore have profound belief in. At this stage of the 2022 season, he accounts for a ream of early Ballydoyle winners and Blackbeard (Ire) is front and centre as he spearheads the stable's quest for a 10th renewal of the G2 Coventry S. His 3 1/2-length dismissal of Moyglare's classy Tough Talk (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in The Curragh's G3 Marble Hill S. May 21 is a standard-setting piece of form and with a draw in 14 he will be hard to subdue. “He is very professional and exciting in equal measure,” Ryan Moore stated on his betfair blog.

All the Right Amo

Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing operation has been a notable fast starter with the 2-year-olds in 2022 and the Coventry sees Persian Force (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) kick off a potentially big Royal Ascot week for the relatively new enterprise. Successful in Doncaster's Brocklesby on the first day of the flat season in Britain Mar. 26 before adding a Newbury conditions race to his tally on the Lockinge card May 14, he has had Richard Hannon in typically excitable form of late. Amo's racing manager Emily Scott is keen to take a step back from the hype now. “He goes there with a great chance. I think the horse has got to do the talking now, but it's going to be very exciting,” she said. “We do have a few chances each day this week, but he is certainly the one we're taking there with highest expectations, I would say.”

First-Crop Promise

Often one of the meeting's most intriguing contests, the Coventry provides the first real test for the leading progeny of the first-season sires who have shaped the initial juvenile scene and none have made a mark so profound as Whitsbury Manor Stud's Havana Grey (GB). His Andrew Balding-trained colt Holguin (GB) is a longshot, having been beaten convincingly by Persian Force at Newbury, but much shorter in the betting is another member of a first crop in Victorious Racing Limited's Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}). Earning TDN Rising Star status with a nine-length success in a York novice over this six-furlong trip May 21, the son of Shadwell's Nunnery Stud resident takes high rank among Archie Watson's youngbloods, while Dalham Hall Stud's Harry Angel (Ire) has Michael O'Callaghan's deeply promising May 14 Navan maiden scorer Harry Time (Ire). As far as Sioux Nation is concerned, it's safe to say that there will be stronger chances for Coolmore's aforementioned freshman than the 100-1 maiden Lakota Blue (GB) as the week goes on.

The post Lighting the Torch at Royal Ascot appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Paddy Kehoe: ‘I’ve Backed Princess Zoe to win €50,000 – I got the Value’

He didn't crack the code to the Irish Lottery, have his colours carried by the record-breaking Grabel (GB) (Bold Owl {GB}), invest eye-watering sums in the stock market and battle with the bookmakers on an almost daily basis by being short of an opinion or two.

Now, Paddy Kehoe is preparing to back his latest theory that his pride and joy Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) can land the G1 Ascot Gold Cup on Thursday and, if correct, the 75-year-old businessman and renowned racehorse owner will net himself a cool €50,000 to go on top of the winner's cheque for the £500,000 Thursday showpiece.

“This mare is going to win,” says a confident Keogh, as he sips through his fourth pot of tea in Dublin's Burlington Hotel on Sunday morning.

“She has the form in the book. Tell me another horse in the race with better form than Zoe? Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was a brilliant horse but he's gone. One of my biggest bets of the week will be on Zoe to beat Stradivarius in a match bet and I could get odds of 2-1 on that. I'll definitely get 6-4.

“That is an absolute house job. If we can't beat Stradivarius we may as well give up. If he is to win the Gold Cup this year, he'll want to start on Wednesday.

“He was a great horse, it's not like he hasn't done it, because he has, but he's an 8-year-old now and we beat him easily last year.

“That's despite the fact that we were blocked in our run. Joey [Sheridan, jockey] was too far back because he was watching Stradivarius even though I told him that he wasn't the one to be worrying about.

“If we rode our own race last year, we'd have won the Gold Cup, and I think we're bringing a better mare to Ascot this year. Where is Stradivarius going to find the improvement to beat us? I can't see it.”

This may sound like pub talk but, then again, so, too, is the idea of devising a plan to win the lotto. But that's exactly what Kehoe, along with mathematical genius Stefan Klincewicz, did back in 1992 when they beat the system and landed the most audacious gambling coup in Irish history, changing the way the National Lottery is run as a result.

“There was every sort of obstacle put in our way,” he says, almost tired of telling the story. “I remember driving out the South Circular Road and the Gardai, the people from the Lotto and the press were all following me. It was world news at the time.”

He added, “One of the lads was on holiday and he picked up a newspaper in Spain and who was on the front of it? Me! He phoned home to Jamesie O'Donnell [another friend] and said, 'what's Kehoe after doing now?' That was a couple of years after Grabel won the richest jumps race ever run in America. It was mad stuff altogether.”

That Irish lotto coup will go down as one of Kehoe's greatest payouts and, the man who understands odds more than most, is all too aware that there is more than just probability to overcome at Ascot next week.

Having said that, the County Wexford native is confident that his trainer Tony Mullins, who was in the plate aboard Grabel on that fateful day in Kentucky back in 1990, has Princess Zoe in even better shape than 12 months ago, when the mare finished a gallant second to Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}).

“I've a lot of money on her,” he says. “I have her backed to win €50,000. We've backed her each-way at 16-1, 12-1 and I'd another €500 each-way on her the other day at 12-1 when she should have been 8-1. We have the value and we have the horse, the jockey and the trainer. If she wins, great, but if she doesn't, it won't be the first time it's happened and I'll put it down to bad luck. I know in my heart and soul that she's a better mare this year so we're confident.”

Kehoe added, “You have to give Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) the respect that he deserves but it doesn't look like he's going to run now because of the ground. What does that leave as favourite? Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})? And what has he beaten?

“He beat Search For a Song (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) at Navan and she has been well-beaten since. Fair enough, he won again at Leopardstown [the G3 Saval Beg Levmoss S.] but that was an egg-and-spoon race because he started as a 1-10 favourite which tells you what he had to beat.

“Kyprios hasn't won beyond 1m6f either so he's not certain to get the trip. For my money, the Gold Cup is a two-horse race between Zoe and Scope (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), the horse who won the G1 Prix Royal-Oak last year, and now I see that he's a doubt to run because of the ground as well.”

Kehoe likes a bet as much as he does a pint of Smithwick's, hates referees as much as he does jockeys, has never married and never intends to either. It's an all-singing, all-dancing operation, which begs the question, where does he find the time to fund the whole thing?

“I get up at four every morning, five at the latest-when I'm not drinking-to price jobs so that I'd have it all done. You'd be finished your work at 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning and you'd have it all done. I could never sleep. The way I look at it is, when you get to 75 years of age, every minute of the day that you're alive is a bonus. What the f*** would you be lying in the bed for?”

Kehoe makes no secret about the fact that he's fond of a good night out-and when Wexford won the All-Ireland in 1996, rumour has it there were several-but he also runs a hugely successful business that specialises in suspended ceilings, travels to race meetings and sporting events all over the world, which goes some way in explaining why sleep falls falls down the pecking order in his list of priorities.

“A fella was slagging one day, telling me that I can remember everything that is said on a night out, and I told him I can remember the day I was born!”

It's at this point where Kehoe's phone lights up for the seventh or eighth time within the space of an hour, each number different to the last, none of which have been saved under a name. No need.

“I don't bother saving them. I know every number in there, I'd have them all in my head. I'm not big on computers. Never was. Sure my mother [Ina] is 96 years of age and she can tell me everything that's going on. I was talking to her this morning and she was talking about tennis, the results from the soccer matches, everything.

“The first thing I do every morning is check the stock markets and switch back over to Sky News to see what's happening in Ukraine. My mother would have all the sports news and everything for me. She's even booked in for the Galway races again this year.”

It's at Galway where Princess Zoe shot to prominence, winning two premier handicaps at the summer festival before returning to Ballybrit later in 2020 to win the Listed Oyster S. and she has since confirmed herself as one of the most talented stayers in the business.

Princess Zoe has netted Kehoe €238,500 in career earnings, not bad for a mare who cost just €39,500, but he doesn't subscribe to being labelled lucky to be associated with such a money-spinner.

“If I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck,” he says, only half-joking. “Take Antarctic Bay as an example. He won the SunAlliance in 1985 and was favourite for the following year's Gold Cup. He never set foot on the track again after his Cheltenham win. Abbey Glen (GB) (Furry Glen {GB}) was beaten a neck in the Arkle, went for the Irish Grand National and pulls up entering the straight after breaking down. He was also favourite for the following year's Gold Cup. Two ante-post favourites for the Gold Cup. Both gone. And people tell me I'm lucky? Stop.”

A night on the town with camp Kehoe is not for the faint-hearted. It may be easier to predict the lotto numbers than to forecast the outcome of Thursday's race but the greatest certainty of them all is that the travelling contingent of Irishmen and women will make the most of the occasion.

“There'll be 15 or 16 of us heading over to Ascot and we'll be back in Cassidy's Pub in Dublin by 11.30pm on Thursday night. There's lads coming over from Paris, New York-all over the place-and they all believe that she will win.

“I've told them not to be disappointed if we're beaten because we'll drink as much if she loses as we will if she wins. It won't make any difference.”

The money is secondary.

The post Paddy Kehoe: ‘I’ve Backed Princess Zoe to win €50,000 – I got the Value’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Bobby Flay: ‘Royal Ascot is the Pinnacle for Me’

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is excited to swap his apron for a top hat and tails at Royal Ascot and described his bold bid for G1 Coronation S. glory with Breeders' Cup-winning homebred Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) as “an experience of a lifetime.”

The Coronation S. has been the main aim for Pizza Bianca ever since she stormed to victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar last November and Flay has said that next week's royal meeting is the pinnacle.

“I feel like I have won already just by participating in a race like this,” the television star told TDN Europe on Thursday. “It's one of the things that I love about this game, being able to participate in big races, and no matter what, we are going to have a great time.

“We have big races at home in our back yard worth a lot of money but Ascot is the experience of a lifetime and we're so excited,” – Bobby Flay

“Royal Ascot is the pinnacle for me. The pageantry of it all, the quality of the horses, the food and beverage, the building itself and the royal family. It has everything that you could possibly want at a horse racing event.”

Flay didn't become one of the most successful owner-breeders in America by simply wanting to take part. He bought White Hot, a half-sister to G1 Derby winner Pour Moi (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), for 1.25 million gns out of the 2014 Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale. Pizza Bianca is her first foal.

She has proved an outstanding addition to Flay's broodmare band, which is said to have numbered only 10, with Pizza Bianca flying the flag for the family with that Breeders' Cup success representing an important first for her trainer Christophe Clement.

Flay said, “Christophe is incredibly talented and extremely knowledgeable. He's got a great team and is meticulous. They love what they do and are great communicators. It's been such a fun experience having a horse with him and I was so happy for Christophe to win his first Breeders' Cup race with Pizza Bianca. We have big races at home in our back yard worth a lot of money but Ascot is the experience of a lifetime and we're so excited.”

He added, “Pizza Bianca has an incredibly rich pedigree and it's mostly European. To be able to showcase her talents on the biggest stage in Europe is a privilege. I have 10 mares. The philosophy behind the operation is that we try to breed the best to the best. We try and leave mediocre to the side and everything we breed is of a very high quality.

“My bloodstock agent, James Delahooke, is a bit of a legend in European racing and helped create a lot of the good Juddmonte families. If you look through some of their great horses, James would have picked out the third or the fourth dams in the pedigree, so having somebody who can see into the future is a huge help.”

Flay has surrounded himself with some of the brightest minds in racing in order to give himself a fighting chance of succeeding but he does a lot of the matings himself and selected Fastnet Rock for White Hot, with the resulting foal turning out to be the now famous Pizza Bianca.

He explained, “Fastnet Rock has been an amazing sire in Australia and when he shuttled to Europe he got a lot of good horses over there as well. Galileo might be the best sire of all time but, the problem with him is, he has a lot of sons at stud. When you have a Galileo mare, the choices are not there at the highest end, and when I was looking at what stallion to go with for White Hot, Fastnet Rock just seemed like he would be a really good choice.”

Flay added, “He was a very fast racehorse and I felt like White Hot needed some speed. As everyone knows, 95% of these things are guesswork, but one of the things that I really believe in is, if you have a mare with good blood, it will show up at one point. You don't know when, but if you breed well, she is going to produce something special. I just didn't think it would be with her first foal! White Hot has an Uncle Mo colt yearling and a Not This Time colt foal. She is in foal to Into Mischief so hopefully there is a lot to look forward to.

“I spend a lot of time on matings and have a couple of rules that I follow. I don't go to unproven stallions. I just don't do it. When I think about sires in the United States, I think Curlin, Uncle Mo, Quality Road and Into Mischief–the top of the food chain. Not This Time and Constitution, they are going to take the lead at some point, but I am very careful with my breeding choices.”

Not only has Flay enjoyed a great deal of success with Pizza Bianca in recent times, he remains a shareholder in GIII Pimlico Special S. winner First Captain (Curlin), a horse he bred, and recently bought into GI Belmont S. contender We the People (Constitution).

An unrelenting ability to make good and informed decisions has led to Flay's outstanding run of success, according to Clement, who says he is no such believer in luck.

Clement said, “I am a realist and Bobby is an optimist–and thank God he is an optimist because this is a tough game and he has done very well. When I was an assistant trainer for Luca Cumani, we trained horses for Gerald Leigh, and Bobby Flay will be the next Gerald Leigh.

“He has a small broodmare band, is very disciplined, sells his colts well and keeps his mares in training.”

The trainer added, “The main thing that makes him successful is that he is amazingly disciplined. He has a wonderful broodmare band and you need to give him credit. Many people have tried to do it but not many have done it as well as he has.

“Bobby has surrounded himself with very good people in his own business and in racing as well. He has bought into some of the top pedigrees and is now involved in racing at the top level.

“I don't believe in luck whatsoever and Bobby is successful because he had a good plan and it's working well.”

Flay's yellow and orange silks will be carried by Pizza Bianca in a race that features Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), representing Moylgare Stud in Ireland, the Cheveley Park-bred Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and a host of Coolmore-bred blue bloods. It may seem daunting, but Flay is relishing the challenge.

He said, “I don't buy a lot of horses because I don't have the resources that some of these people I am competing against have. Some of these people own countries. I mean, they have extreme wealth and can just fire away as they please, but I have to be very clever and save my powder for the moments when something special comes up.

“When White Hot was in the sales, I knew she wasn't going to be cheap, but it's like buying a piece of real estate to me. I would never buy a colt like that. I can't afford to try that. If White Hot was a colt, she'd be worth zero [once she never raced] but, the fact that she's a filly, you still have a chance.

On the race itself, he added, “William Hill has Pizza Bianca at 10-1 but everyone else has her odds at 16-1 so maybe the guys at William Hill took a bet.”

Pizza Bianca is not the only horse that Clement runs at the royal meeting with the rapidly-progressive sprinter Slipstream (More Than Ready) due to line out in the G1 Commonwealth Cup as well.

Speaking about his chances of landing a royal winner at the first attempt at travelling horses to Britain, Clement, who was once based in the United Kingdom, said, “I worked in England for four years as assistant to Luca Cumani and have been lucky enough to train for Her Majesty in America. To have runners at Royal Ascot is a lot of fun and I actually like that they are not favourites.”

He added, “Slipstream was very impressive when he won at Keeneland in April. He has a good mind and has a lot of talent. He is still improving.

The post Bobby Flay: ‘Royal Ascot is the Pinnacle for Me’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post