Nic Doggett provides an overview of the key things to note on day five of Royal Ascot.
Jersey boys (and girls) in Royal Berkshire
“a big, strong colt, he's a most exciting prospect and looks a serious candidate for Royal Ascot, whatever route connections choose to go down.”
You could probably have a good game of ‘Name that horse’ judging by the Timeform reporter’s assessment above, so I’ll give you a clue.
He cost quite a lot of money.
Ah, that doesn’t really help does it.
He’s by Night Of Thunder.
A bit more helpful, but not really, as at the time of writing there have been 14 of his progeny run already at Ascot this week, including three very high-profile winners*.
Some more of the Timeform report should assist:
“had looked a classy sort when an impressive winner of a novice at Redcar on his only previous outing last autumn and looked potentially out of the top drawer such was the impression created here as he maintained his unbeaten record, having to record some very fast closing sectionals to come from last place.”
Well done if you got it: it’s Saber Strike, who has the holy Timeform triumvirate of ‘hot trainer/sectional/horse in focus’ flags in the Jersey Stakes (16:20) following that fine seasonal return last month.
Clearly this is a step up in class – the fourth from both the 1000 and 2000 Guineas, The Prettiest Star and Into The Sky (who are also ‘horses in focus’) are in opposition, after all – but he might just progress past them to the top of the tree; he has Group 1 entries in both the July Cup over six furlongs and Sussex Stakes over a mile, though the Lennox (Group 2) over seven furlongs might be a more logical next step at Glorious Goodwood assuming Saturday’s race goes to plan.
* Ten Bob Tony, Bow Echo and Ombudsman for an extra point
Wathnan purchasing power on display
On the subject of the Jersey, The Prettiest Star will sport new silks having been purchased by Wathnan Racing since her fine fourth at Newmarket in early-May.
Indeed, it feels like the Qatari-powered owners have had a mid-season splurge and bought half of the horses running on Saturday, with more established purchases Best Secret, Flora Of Bermuda, French Master (all June 2025) and Kind Of Blue (October 2024) joined by notable recent buys including London Gold Cup one-two Lost Boys and Sahara King, both of whom run in the Golden Gate Stakes (17:35) having picked up the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag last time out.
The pair top Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings and might fight out the finish to another top handicap, with Sahara King seemingly preferred by James Doyle. The Too Darn Hot colt is 1 lb better off with Lost Boys – a son of, you guessed it, Night Of Thunder - and his earlier form with subsequent Derby runner-up Maltese Cross suggests that he remains well-treated off this mark of 96.
At the time of writing (2pm Friday), Wathnan had had two winners (Map Of Stars in the Wolferton and Earth Shot in the Ribblesdale) from 26 runners at Royal Ascot this week. By 4pm it was three, thanks to the win of Opportunity in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes, increasing their strike-rate from 7.69% to 9.38%.
That may sound meagre, but for context Aidan O’Brien is 14%, John Gosden is 12%, and it’s actually slightly better than that of both William Haggas and Charlie Appleby.
But is it likely to be enough for the owners, who had two in 2023, four in 2024, and five in 2025?
"We've made no secret of how important this meeting is to us," said racing manager Richard Brown following the win of Opportunity. There's a little bit of pressure on getting at least one more before the close of play on Saturday.
Strong renewal of meeting finale
The Queen Alexandra Stakes (18:10) usually rounds off the five-day extravaganza in fairly understated fashion – the longest race of the week the horse racing equivalent of a toddler refusing to leave a softplay.
It’s a contest that has been dominated in recent times by the best of the National Hunt sphere – both in terms of trainers and horses – though clearly the efforts of Joseph O’Brien are now more focused on the Flat, certainly judging by his success this week.
He runs Chester Cup winner A Piece Of Heaven this year as he bids to wrestle back the title from Willie Mullins, who in turn had won the two renewals prior to O’Brien’s wins in 2023 and 2024.
Mullins’ winner last year was the well-backed Sober, a French recruit who was a winner of a novice hurdle at Killarney on his previous start, but this year’s leading candidate Le Destrier has a different profile, lightly-raced in both Poland and France before a promising third in Group 3 company at Leopardstown on his stable debut/return from a huge absence (sent off 33/1) last month.
The yard also runs the very interesting pair of Columbus and Mr Hollywood, yet more recent recruits who were second and third last month in the same Killarney race won by Sober. Even former stablemate Hipop De Loire (sold for 15,000 guineas recently) attempts to get in on the act.
But this year’s race feels a little different, with a higher quality of Flat opposition on display. French Master – who is narrowly top on Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings - won the Copper Horse Stakes here 12 months ago, while Illinois won the Queen’s Vase at three and then chased home Trawlerman in the Gold Cup last year. Used as a pacemaker so far this term, he’s likely to be seen to better effect now competing in a race he can win.
Maxi King, totally unexposed as a stayer, looked a little unlucky when chasing home A Piece Of Heaven on the Roodee where the prolific Berkshire Sundance was only sixth, while Dallas Star was fourth in this race last season and has twice finished runner-up in Group 3 company.
A slow-burner of a race then, but quite a hot one this year.
More to read on Royal Ascot 2026
- Aidan O’Brien 100 and best Royal Ascot winners
- Richard Fahey on Perfect Power and weekend team
- Kieran Shoemark on latest rides
- Latest Royal Ascot tips and features
- Royal Ascot racecards, form and FREE video replays
- Royal Ascot going and weather forecast
- Royal Ascot odds with Sky Bet
- Royal Ascot free bets
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