Frankie Dettori: Two rides for The King

Racing’s poster boy, in his last year in the saddle before retirement, will wear the famous purple and scarlet colours at least twice at the five-day meeting which starts on Tuesday. And he hopes to raise the roof in front of the royal party, who are expected to attend each day.

“It was an honour to ride for the (late) Queen. I always wore those silks with pride and nothing has changed,” said Dettori. “I am excited to ride for King Charles and Queen Camilla. I would love nothing better than to ride a winner for them next week. A royal winner would raise the roof. It would be fantastic and I’m obviously really looking forward to the meeting.”

One of the late Queen’s greatest loves was the thoroughbred and she took a keen interest in racing and breeding throughout her life.

She had 24 winners at Royal Ascot, the last of which came in 2020 when Tactical landed the Windsor Castle Stakes. Her first came just days after her coronation in 1953 with Choir Boy beating 20 rivals to land the Royal Hunt Cup. Following her death in September, this will be the first Royal Ascot for the King and Queen, with the potential for eight runners in the 35 races.

John Warren, the King and Queen’s racing and bloodstock adviser, says the excitement is building in royal circles.

“We are hopeful the King and Queen will race through the week and they will be very much following their runners. They are really very much looking forward to a wonderful week’s racing, which is tremendous,” Warren said..

“Everyone is excited by their participation and the fact they are really engaged and looking forward to it. The King understands the bigger picture. He is more than interested in racing. It is something he’d heard in osmosis all his life. What with the Queen’s enthusiasm, racing is lucky to have two great advocates, people who are engaged in the sport we all love.”

Dettori will ride royal runners Saga and Reach For the Moon, who are trained by John Gosden in partnership with son, Thady. At last year’s meeting, Saga ran a cracker under Dettori in the Britannia Stakes, finishing a head second to Thesis.

The son of Invincible Spirit is again among the main hopes for the royals, having opened his four-year-old campaign with a head defeat to King Of Conquest over nine furlongs at Newmarket.

Warren said: “On day one, we have Saga in the Wolferton Stakes. It was a nice run last time at Newmarket. It will be interesting. We don’t have too many fears about him staying a little bit further, so we feel the mile and two (furlongs) should be fine for him.

“The Royal Hunt Cup was a back-up as we didn’t know he would get into the Wolferton, as there are only 16 who can get in, so you have to give yourself a second string to the bow. He ran jolly well last year, so he is a capable horse.”

Dettori will also partner Reach For The Moon, who was expected to land the Hampton Court at the meeting last year, only for the 2-5 favourite to be downed by Claymore. He was also second at Royal Ascot in 2021, to Point Lonsdale in the Chesham.

After being gelded over the winter, the one-time Derby hope was last of seven on his seasonal bow in the Earl of Sefton Stakes at Newmarket. He drops back to a mile for the Royal Hunt Cup on Wednesday.

“He will take his chance,” said Warren. “He has been rusty in a way and we just haven’t quite got him where the trainer wants to have him, but is on very good form now, so we are hopeful.

“Probably a mile is the right trip for him. A big field might help him, cover him up and be kidded along a little bit, and hopefully he’ll just get into his rhythm and then use his ability when it matters. Frankie will ride both.”

Circle Of Fire will be considered for both the Queen’s Vase and the King Edward VII Stakes. The Almanzor colt holds entries in a pair of Group Two contests, Wednesday’s Queen’s Vase over a mile and three-quarters and Friday’s King Edward VII Stakes over a mile and a half.

Warren, said: “We are going to look at the King Edward VII for Circle Of Fire, just because Sir Michael Stoute holds him in high regard. We think he is a stamina horse. He has just been a big, physical improver, so we think he is one of those horses, typically trained by Sir Michael, that has potentially got some improvement in him. He prefers to bring them along very quietly and nicely.

“He is a galloper and there is a great temptation to go for the Queen’s Vase, but before the commitment is made, we are just going to look at the Edward VII and get our heads around it. Hopefully, he is a horse on the up, as it were. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him. We hope he has a bright future.”

The rare prospect of two royal runners in the same race could occur, with Market Value also entered in the Queen’s Vase.

Trained by William Haggas, the daughter of Siyouni is out of Estimate, the mare who made history by becoming the first to win the Ascot Gold Cup for a reigning monarch, when famously obliging for the late Queen a decade ago.

“We have made an entry for Market Value in the Queen’s Vase,” said Warren. “She is the daughter of Estimate, but she is more of a free-going type. She is a filly who is only just coming to hand now. She is totally unexposed and she is only rated 82, so you could argue that on face value, she shouldn’t be qualified for anything at the moment. She is only on the up and learning her trade. She is a filly with plenty to come, we hope.”

Market Value has only had three outings in her career. Yet she has improved on each occasion and on her second run this term, the three-year-old relished the step up to 10 furlongs in romping to a three-and-a-half-length success in a fillies’ maiden at Ripon.

“The further she went, the more she looked like she was liking it,” Warren added. “If she wasn’t such a free-going sort, you’d have to feel confident she’d stay a mile and three-quarters, being a daughter of a Gold Cup winner and Siyouni, who is well capable of getting something to stay. That will be the caveat. This is the only real race for her and we are going to take it to the wire and see if she does get in.

“If William Haggas is happy with her on the morning of declarations, which at the moment he is, as she worked nicely on Thursday morning with an older filly, he’s confident she will run a nice race. She’ll take her chance if she can get in and if he’s happy running to the wire. So, we have potentially two for the Vase. There was a back-up plan for her to run somewhere else on Saturday if she doesn’t get in.

“It will be very interesting. She is on very good form, so wherever she goes, she’s going to run a nice race, but that’s the caveat, whether she will really stay if she is able. If she runs, she will almost certainly be ridden by Tom Marquand.”

Desert Hero, also trained by Haggas, will will head to the King George V Handicap on Thursday, on the back of being a beaten favourite in the London Gold Cup on his seasonal bow at Newbury last month.

“I think we think he wants a mile and a half,” said Warren. “He is by Sea The Stars and I think this race will suit him very nicely. “He has the right profile for the race. I’d be hopeful he will run a nice race and I think Tom Marquand will ride, if he can do the weight.”

Educator represents Haggas in Friday’s Duke of Edinburgh Handicap over 12 furlongs.

Warren said: “He is in the Copper Horse, but we don’t really want to experiment over a mile and six furlongs, so if he can get into the Duke of Edinburgh that would be his race. Gelding has definitely helped him. He has been threatening for some time and his last race proved he does stay a mile and a half. I think he has grown up a lot now and I think he is a nice prospect, a lovely sound horse, who is just coming of age now.”

Candle Of Hope completes the royal team and goes over a mile in the Sandringham on Friday.

Her trainer Richard Hughes said: “She won her maiden at Newbury and then was Listed-placed when third in the Denford there. Then she was unlucky at Lingfield at the start of the year in the Listed Spring Cup. We go there claiming three pounds off a mark of 91. She might be competitive, although a stiff mile might catch her out. I’m very honoured to be training for the King. I’m the first Irishman to train for him, which makes me very proud.”

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