Bobby Flay looks forward to Pizza Bianca's Royal Ascot start

Thereare two things that keep Bobby Flay awake at night. One of them is entirelywithin his control. The other is a lifelong challenge that has been bothrewarding and challenging and subject to the whims of fate.

“WhenI can’t sleep at night, I’m thinking of new recipes,” he said. “And I’mwatching races.”

Andanalyzing. And handicapping. And strategizing. Come to think of it, those threeactions might apply to both food and horses, the great passions in the life ofthis celebrity chef who doubles as a Thoroughbred breeder and owner.

Flayhas combined the two for his trip this week to see his homebred filly Pizza Bianca, the winner of the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, race in theGroup 1, £500,000 ($607,900) Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. Early this weekshe was a 16-1 long shot with English bookmakers who made undefeated Inspiral,an English Group 1 winner, the 2-1 favorite for the one-turn turf mile thatstarts Friday at 11:20 a.m. EDT.

“Wehad always talked about Royal Ascot right after the Breeders’ Cup,” Flay, 57,told Horse Racing Nation. “I remember talking to (trainer) ChristopheClément the morning after. We were all so high from the exhilaration of the daybefore. I asked him, ‘How do you feel about Royal Ascot?’ He said, ‘I used totrain for the Queen.’ So I said, ‘OK, we’re going to do this.’”

Whilethe most prestigious week of racing in the world was the goal, there was thenot-so-small matter of getting Pizza Bianca started on her 3-year-old season.Coming back from a 5 1/2-month break after the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, thefilly by Australia-bred stallion Fastnet Rock out of the Galileo broodmare WhiteHot was a beaten favorite in the April 24 running of the 1 1/16-mile Memoriesof Silver Stakes at Aqueduct.

“Ithink she was odds-on in her comeback race,” Flay said. He was right. PizzaBianca was 9-10 when she finished second to the Chad Brown-trained fillyConsumer Spending, who had finished sixth in their Breeders’ Cup matchup. “Ifyou’re around horse racing for any amount of time, horses don’t know what theirodds are. That doesn’t seem to matter.”

Nowonder Flay was so nervous on Preakness day at Pimlico, where Pizza Bianca wasodds-on again. This time she was 2-5 before the two-turn, one-mile HilltopStakes, which she confidently won by 1 3/4 lengths.

Or,to put it another way, whew.

“Aftershe didn’t win the first race,” Flay said, “I talked to Christophe about theidea of maybe running four weeks later. And then have four weeks between theHilltop at Pimlico and Royal Ascot. He said, ‘That sounds like a good idea.’ ”

But Flay, a native of New York, has been around the racing block enough to knownothing is automatic.

“Peopleforget these horses are not machines,” he said. “They’re animals. They havegood days and bad days. They have patterns. They have injuries that we mightnot see that may be nagging them a little bit. I mean, they’re athletes. So tosee her perform so easily in such a relaxed way at Pimlico was a nice thing tosee.”

Notthat the race was without drama for Flay, who watched from a perch nearthe finish line on a steamy day in Baltimore as jockey José Ortiz made his movewith Pizza Bianca.

“Whenshe was coming around the far turn, I was like, OK, she’s pretty far back,”Flay said. “Then she just basically swallowed them up by the eighth pole. Itwas a really good feeling.”

Fastforward to Royal Ascot. Actually, make that a rewind to Flay’s first experiencethere in 2011. He and trainer Todd Pletcher went there, also with a Breeders’Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner. Coming off a seven-month break, More ThanReal was a 12-1 long shot at post time. With standout France jockey Olivier Péslierriding, she finished 11th of 12 in the 2011 Coronation.

“Rightoff the bat she was up against it,” Flay said. “She had a couple things thatwere sort of nagging her after her Breeders’ Cup race. We weren’t able to gether a prep race. ... Then it was really, really boggy. They got hit with a lotof weather, which they do often. She had absolutely no interest in theracecourse. It was certainly not a good run.”

Atleast not for the horse. For Flay, it was indelibly grand, and it emboldenedhis desire to get back with a horse like Pizza Bianca.

“Ifyou haven’t been to the Royal Ascot meeting, you might be missing the bestThoroughbred experience in the world,” he said. “It has class. It has history. Ifyou have a horse and you’re in the royal enclosure, you have to wear a top hatand tails as a guy. The ladies have a lot of rules and regulations as to what thedresses have to be. And The Queen shows up every day (health permitting). It’s no joke. It’s agreat, great experience.”

Evengreater when Flay and his family and friends get to ride a horse, figuratively,to a front-row seat for the social event of the English year.

“That’sthe thing I love about a horse like Pizza Bianca,” Flay said. “When you have agood one like this, they can take you to incredible experiences around theworld."

Consider the source for that comment. A man whose international reputation hasbrought him James Beard and Emmy awards for his culinary and television workand two Breeders’ Cups as a horseman. He won a Belmont Stakes when he boughtinto 2006 winner Creator, and he tried again by getting a piece of the actionlast week on We the People. After all that, a Royal Ascot trophy might lookgood on Flay’s New York mantel.

ButFlay took more pride in the fact that he bred Pizza Bianca. The key word therewas bred. Her success may provide him his defining moments in 16 years as anowner – and more.

“Clearly,it’s the cherry on the top,” he said. “I have what I like to call a boutiquebreeding operation, which basically means it’s not that big. I always go forthe top-level families in the stud book. That at the moment has proven to beclearly the most fun I’ve ever had.”

Notthat he will stop finding more ways to have fun, especially in the field thatbrought him renown. His trip to England, then, will not be confined to the racecourse30 miles west of London.

“We’regoing to be a party of 10,” he said. “My daughter (TV journalist Sophie Flay) iscoming from L.A. We’re going to Borough Market, which is an open-air marketthat is one of my favorite places. We’re going to spend the lunch hours thereeating all kinds of different foods. They have the best fish and chips you caneat. Guys are shucking oysters to order, and there are great pasta places. Andthere’s the Indian food in London that, besides India, might be the best in theworld.”

Andthen there is the epicurean experience at the track itself that Flay said “islike going to the best wedding you’ve ever been to.” That does not even takeinto account the parking lot, which turns into a high-end tailgate.

Oh,yes. There is the matter of the race itself. Flay said, “If you know me, youknow I have looked at this 100,000 times.”

Althoughundefeated Inspiral may be the top choice with bookmakers, Flay said last month’sIrish 1,000 Guineas (G1) winner Homeless Songs looked like the favorite forPizza Bianca’s date in the Coronation.

“Shehad an amazing run in the Irish Guineas,” Flay said. “She showed what you wantin a race like this, which is an amazing turn of foot. Inspiral hasn’t runsince October, but she’s got a lot of talent as well.”

Flayalso offered a reminder that Pizza Bianca beat pacesetter Cachet, the 5-1 thirdchoice Friday, in the Breeders’ Cup. “I think she’s going to be the one to catch,”Flay said.

The field also includes the undefeated Graham Motion-trained filly Spendarella, a 12-1 shot Friday who won the Appalachian (G2) in April at Keeneland. “She’ll be near the front as well, I’m sure,” Flay said. “A very, very talented filly.”

And about his filly Pizza Bianca?

“Ican only hope that she can give us her best effort,” Flay said. “She won theBreeders’ Cup, and she was the best horse that day. Now there’s going to be 14of them. The bottom line is you don’t know until you match up with thesehorses.”