The Diamond Jubilee Stakes (1200m) is the last of three consecutive G1 features during Saturday’s (20 June) spectacular eight-race simulcast programme, with rags-to-riches speedster Sceptical being the biggest story on the fifth and final day of the Royal Ascot meeting.
Purchased for just £2,800 sterling last August, having never gone into full training when owned by Godolphin, the four-year-old gelding has since won his last four starts and in no time become Ireland’s highest-rated sprinter.
Two surgeries to correct his breathing have facilitated his dramatic ascent, best illustrated by the manner in which – on his turf debut – he skipped clear of some smart local speedsters in the Listed Woodlands Stakes over 1100m at Naas on the 8th June.
Sceptical is trained in Tipperary by 33-year-old Denis Hogan, who still also rides as a jump-race jockey.
“The way Sceptical had won a handicap (by 6.5l at Dundalk in March) I was quietly confident about the step up in class at Naas. He’s now proved what we thought – that he’s a special horse,” Hogan said.
The original plan was to run in the King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) on Tuesday but the decision was made to give Sceptical a few days longer between races, his connections no doubt also reflecting that Battaash would have been a fearsome opponent in Tuesday’s contest – a well-calculated judgement given that sprinter’s overwhelming victory in the G1 dash.
It’s a great advert for the diversity of racing but whether Frankie Dettori’s mount Sceptical has earned the right to be chief protagonist on Saturday is a different question especially against powerful sprinter Hello Youmzain, gate to wire winner of the G1 Sprint Cup (1200m) at Haydock last September.
Admittedly, Hello Youmzain’s fellow stable speedster Glass Slippers was a bit disappointing when only fifth behind Battaash on Tuesday but trainer Kevin Ryan retains maximum confidence in his charge’s prospects in the Diamond Jubilee.
“He’s a big horse who has strengthened up and filled his frame since last year. He’s the finished article now and he’s ground versatile. We are really looking forward to Saturday,” Ryan said.
The other two G1 races are both on the round track over a mile. Wichita (Ryan Moore) and Pinatubo (William Buick) are set to do battle again in the St James’s Palace Stakes following their second and third in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket two weeks ago.
And, in the G1 Coronation Stakes, a collection of talented fillies are in action including US invader Sharing, winner of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (1600m) at Santa Anita last November. Oisin Murphy was booked long ago for this big-race assignment on the Graham Motion-trained filly.
