Royal Ascot Day Three: King’s Gambit Aims for Glory in Hampton Court Stakes
As the third day of the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting dawns, all eyes will be on the talented colt King’s Gambit, who will look to deliver a victory for fledgling trainer Harry Charlton in the feature race, the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes.
Charlton, who took over the reins at the historic Beckhampton Stables from his father Roger earlier this year, is excited about his charge’s prospects. After an impressive win in the competitive London Gold Cup at Newbury last month, King’s Gambit will bid to follow in the footsteps of his stablemate Thesis, who secured a Royal Ascot triumph for the Charltons in the 2022 Britannia Handicap.
“We’re very happy with him, we’ve had some lovely weather for him to do some nice work on our grass gallops, he’s in great shape and spot on for Thursday,” said the trainer. “I was pretty hopeful he was going to win at Newbury, but as to the manner that he did it in, he was very impressive. I think what we saw was a much more professional horse than we knew of last year on the track and he’s mentally growing up all the time.”
One of King’s Gambit’s main rivals is expected to be the Andre Fabre-trained First Look, who has been snapped up by the Wathnan Racing team since his runner-up finish in the French Derby. Wathnan’s racing adviser Richard Brown commented, “Andre Fabre is obviously a master of bringing these horses along and we are delighted and excited to have added him to the team.”
The Norfolk Stakes and Ribblesdale Stakes
The action on day three of Royal Ascot kicks off with the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, where Aidan O’Brien’s Whistlejacket will be the focus of attention following his dominant win in a Listed race at the Curragh last month. The Irish maestro is confident in his colt’s chances, stating, “He’s had his two runs which would be a help for him and we think that is very important.”
Another intriguing contender in the Norfolk Stakes is Shareholder, a €460,000 purchase by the Wathnan operation, who made a winning debut for trainer Karl Burke at Beverley less than two weeks ago. Wathnan’s Brown believes the horse has a “realistic chance of running a good race” at Royal Ascot.
In the Ribblesdale Stakes, the Juddmonte team are hopeful about the chances of Kalpana, who has already finished second to the talented Inisherin and Friendly Soul in her two most recent starts. Juddmonte’s racing manager Barry Mahon commented, “She’s had a nice little break and is training nicely and we were half tempted to supplement for the Oaks, but we just felt that freshening her up and heading into Ascot after a break was the right thing to do.”
The likely favorite for the Ribblesdale is Charlie Appleby’s unbeaten filly Diamond Rain, who the Godolphin trainer believes will relish the step up in distance to a mile and a half.
With a host of exciting contenders set to take center stage, day three of Royal Ascot promises to deliver another thrilling day of top-class horse racing action.
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