Key events
Constitution Hill scratched from Ascot Gold Cup
Many of the owners and trainers here this week will be hoping their horses run well enough to consider sending them to Royal Ascot, but one horse that will definitely not be heading to Berkshire next month is Constitution Hill, the 2023 Champion Hurdle winner, who has been scratched from the Gold Cup, the Royal meeting’s feature event, on 19 June.
Constitution Hill famously went unbeaten in his first 10 starts and is seen as one of the finest hurdlers of all time, but his career over jumps has unravelled since mid-March, with two falls, at Cheltenham and Aintree, and then a lacklustre display at Punchestown earlier this month.
His entry for the Gold Cup was somewhat unexpected to begin with, and the eight-year-old will now be turned out for the summer ahead of an expected return to action over hurdles in the autumn.
Preamble
Good afternoon from the Knavesmire, where after two days with Epsom Classic trials at the top of the bill, attention turns to the stayers and the intriguing prospect of Rebel’s Romance – arguably the most under-appreciated horse in training, among British racing fans at least – stepping up beyond a mile-and-a-half for the first time.
Charlie Appleby’s seven-year-old is one of the biggest money-earners in global racing history, and already a member of the elite club of horses with earnings of more than £10m. His 16 wins from 24 starts include two victories in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, He has notched two wins in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, a victory in the Sheema Classic at Meydan – the world’s joint-richest race on turf – and seven Group One or Grade One successes in all.
All seven, though, were recorded at a variety of high-profile tracks and meetings around the world, and his only Group-race win in Britain was a Group Three at Goodwood in July 2022. That could well change this afternoon, as he is the likely favourite for the Group Two Yorkshire Cup despite the question mark over the trip, and a victory at 14 furlongs would open up a range of new options for Appleby’s evergreen seven-year-old.
Today’s feature should be a decent test, despite the small field, as all five runners are currently priced up at single-figure odds. Continuous, the 2023 St Leger winner; Epic Poet, third in a Grade One in Dubai last time; and Sweet William, runner-up behind the high-class Kyprios in last season’s Goodwood Cup all have the form to win, even if Rebel’s Romance’s stamina holds up.
The going on the Knavesmire remains good to firm, good in places, and the action is underway at 2.10 with the Marygate Fillies’ Stakes, something of a trial for the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.
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