Jet Setting will be allowed to take her place in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Saturday despite having been supplemented into the wrong race on Monday. The mudloving filly provided her low-profile trainer, Adrian Keatley, with a fairytale success in the Irish 1,000 Guineas in May but her story almost had a nightmare twist when her name appeared among the field for Ascot’s Fillies & Mares race, run over half a mile further than Jet Setting has ever raced.
Keatley was stunned to learn from the Guardian that his horse appeared to have been wrongly entered and indicated he would discuss the matter with his office staff. Rather against the run of form, however, the British Horseracing Authority proved flexible enough to allow Jet Setting to be switched into the QEII, even though the deadline for entries had passed.
A BHA spokesman said: “Having been contacted about the error in a timely manner and after considering the individual circumstances, we felt that the appropriate course of action was to allow the horse to take its place in the intended race.”
Bookmakers appear unable to agree as to Jet Setting’s chance, with firms offering her at odds ranging from 8-1 to 14-1. Minding, the filly she pipped in the Guineas, is widely expected to turn that form around on the likely faster surface. “We just need some rain,” a relieved Keatley said after being assured that Jet Setting’s entry had been corrected. “You couldn’t persuade them to turn on the sprinklers, could you?”
The going on Ascot’s straight course, to be used for the QEII, is good, good to soft in places, with only light showers expected on Wednesday and Friday. The inner course is firm in places and therefore seems unlikely to be used for the Champion Stakes, which would then be switched on to the outer track, where there is some give.
The downside to that change would be a shorter run to the first bend, which may well cause traffic problems as there are 19 horses still entered after the five-day stage on Monday. They are headed by the 7-4 favourite Almanzor and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, Found.
“The field is not only deep but very strong,” said John Gosden, who plans to give Jack Hobbs his first outing since April. “I don’t think that we’re under any illusions. I thought that Almanzor’s performance in the Irish Champion was undoubtedly the best performance of any three-year-old this year, in fact any horse in Europe this year. I thought it was quite scintillating, his acceleration, so I see him clearly as the horse to beat.
“Jack Hobbs has strengthened well, he’s had the summer off and actually it’s given him time to develop. Given his sire, they get better with age and I think that the time has benefited him enormously. He’s in great order for it, a mile and a quarter is no problem for him and he’s not a type that’s ring-rusty. He won very well first time up as a three-year-old, but we’re aware that we are coming back in a fantastic renewal of the race.”
Aidan O’Brien is still mulling over his options for the various prizes on Qipco Champions Day and is not expected to make final decisions until Wednesday evening at the earliest. Found is thought robust enough to represent him in the Champion Stakes, just 13 days after her Arc success, which would leave Minding to contest the QEII.
The Irishman has seven other horses entered across those two races, plus seven in other races on the Ascot card. Those are headed by Order Of St George, who will be a hot favourite if lining up for the Long Distance Cup at the scene of his Gold Cup success in June.
Henry Candy said Limato was likely to take his chance in the Champions Sprint if the ground remained mostly good, despite having won the Prix de la Forêt on Arc day less than a fortnight before. “He does seem to take his races much better,” Candy said. “Earlier in the year, if you’d told me that he could run twice in a fortnight I’d have thought you were mad, but it does seem to be a possibility now.”
Limato heads the Sprint betting on 11-4 with Twilight Son, also likely to represent Candy, at 10-1.
Belardo will miss the QEII after suffering a setback, Roger Varian said. The Godolphin horse will now retire to stud in Ireland having won two Group Ones, the Dewhurst of 2014 and this year’s Lockinge.
