The Royal Ascot 2012 – Part 1
The horseracing fans in England witnessed some breathtaking races at Ascot over a period of five days, starting from Tuesday, June 19, 2012.
A total of 30 races took place during these five days and there were some memorable performances given by a few horses. Below is a brief analysis of what happened in the Royal Ascot this month.
Royal Ascot Day One:
The prestigious event started off with The Queen Anne Stakes, which was dominated by Sir Henry Cecil’s trainee, Frankel. This was the 11th appearance of the four-year-old colt, who has never been defeated till date.
Frankel was given a starting price of 1 to 10 for the race and he proved that he was too strong for all his opponents. He was pretty much impressive, winning the race by 11 lengths. The victory earned his owners a cash prize of £198,485.
Next race was The King’s Stand Stakes, which saw a tough competition between Little Bridge and Bated Breath. Although both were not rated as the favourite to win, they displayed excellent speed and entertained the spectators at Ascot.
The St James’s Palace Stakes completed the hat-trick of Group-1 races on the first day and it also provided some thrilling action of horseracing to the fans. Most Improved was the one, who ran to the top this time, but he had to press hard until the end
in order to prevent Hermival from taking the lead.
The intensity kept on increasing with the passage of time, as the Group-2 Coventry Stakes saw Dawn Approach and Olympic Glory battle out for victory. The former of the two runners finally finished ahead by just three quarters.
Next up was the Ascot Stakes (Handicap), which went to the Willie Mullins’ trainee, Simenon, who completely dominated the proceedings. He won by six lengths, earning his owner a cash prize of £34,237.
The final race of the day was The Windsor Castle Stakes, which saw a close battle between the top seven finishers. However, victory belonged to Hototo, who displayed excellent speed over a short distance of five furlongs.
This was the fifth consecutive upset in the day, as only Frankel had managed to meet the expectations of the bookies in the day.
Royal Ascot Day Two:
Second day of the Ascot meeting began with The Jersey Stakes. The Group-3 event was won by Ishvana, who had entered with a starting price of 20 to 1. She took full advantage of the conditions and prevailed by one length.
Another upset was witnessed at Ascot, this time in the Windsor Forest Stakes, where Joviality proved to be the best. She had to earn her victory though, as she only managed to win by a neck distance in the end.
Finally the bookies got one prediction right, as So You Think prevailed in the Group-1 Prince of Wales's Stakes. He was up against some good runners, but did not allow them to come closer in the end, winning by a decent margin.
The third last race of day two was the Royal Hunt Cup, which went to Prince Of Johanne, who was not expected to be so strong in the race. However, he proved his worth to one and all, prevailing by half a length.
Another Group-2 race, Queen Mary Stakes, provided some thrilling action to the spectators, as it saw a close competition between Ceiling Kitty and Hoyam, with the former runner winning by one length.
There were no surprises in the final race of the day, as Duntle fought her way to the top. She was given a tough time, but claimed the Sandringham Stakes by a close margin in the end.
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