Causeway (right) gets the better of Ancient Egypt at Royal Ascot

Kia Joorabchian believes that Amo Racing's policy will bear fruit this season

Horse Racing

Sun June 21, 2026 · 2w ago

Amo Racing narrowly missed getting on the board at Royal Ascot but Kia Joorabchian is happy with where the operation is at.

Ancient Egypt came within a neck of replicating King Of Steel's 2023 success in the King Edward VII Stakes on Friday, finding Ballydoyle's Causeway and Ryan Moore just too strong in the finish.

Joorabchian is realistic about the task facing Amo Racing as they bid to compete on a regular basis at the top table and he was far from disappointed with the team's performance at Royal Ascot whilst still admitting that he doesn't like losing.

"I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't gutted to lose," he told Sky Sports Racing after the race.

"I'm gutted for everybody because the team has worked so hard to get here and I'm gutted that we haven't had a winner.

"The real positive is that 13 days later, he has come back from the Derby. King Of Steel ran this race and won it but he had 20 days after the Derby, that's seven days extra, and I think if he'd had four or five days more, I don't think he'd have come close to us if we had that little bit more time.

"Charlie Johnston and his team have done an unbelievable job to get him back here. We've got another great horse with them called Pikachu, another Frankel [who finished fifth in the Chesham Stakes, beaten under two lengths]. They've done really well with that and, fingers crossed, slowly, slowly, we'll start to fire."

Who landed our awards after Royal Ascot 2026?

Along with a fine run from Pikachu, Amo Racing saw Crownbreaker, trained by Kevin Philippart De Foy, fill the same berth in the Queen Mary Stakes behind the impressive Victorious at 100/1 with the filly third home in her group.

Joorabchian explained their lack of juvenile representation across the five days, saying: "You have to realise that 80% of our two-year-olds are at home, they haven't even come out.

"We bought very deep pedigreed horses which are not going to be very early June horses and they are not Ascot horses.

"We are very pleased with what we have at home, we are very pleased with where we are at the moment and we are building. Obviously, you want to get the win and I'm never pleased when we don't win, none of the team are pleased when we don't win, because you need a boost and you need to have a win."

Reflecting on the King Edward VII Stakes and the challenge ahead, he continued: "Their [Coolmore] operation is so good, they can put two horses in a race and they can mess up a race. They can put one horse in a race and they've got deep pedigreed horses.

"We are up against a real, real battle when it comes to their operation because they have the best of everything and they've been going for 30-35 years. It's a credit to how they have built that and we're way, way behind; we will catch up but we have to be patient.

"We've starting to breed now. Persian Force has been unbelievable, he's one of the leading sires and yesterday Pershaada [Middleham Park, Richard Hannon] came fourth [in the Queen Mary], another Persian Force.

"Slowly, slowly with King Of Steel [progeny] coming out. Wootton Bassett doing so well and now Wootton Bassett has gone so we're hoping to replace that and hopefully we will catch up and overtake them soon.

"We've bought very good broodmares over the last couple of years, we own Streak Of Luck in the US who bred the Champion Two-Year-Old over there [Ted Noffey]. We own some very good broodmares here and we have some very good pedigreed horses coming through.

"We just need a little bit more patience to get those pedigrees and bloodlines to come through."

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