Ripon 2.10 Brian The Snail 2.40 Anaisa 3.10 Spioradalta 3.40 Beaujolais Nouveau (nap) 4.10 Eighth Avenue 4.40 Panama City 5.10 Hype Merchant
Stratford-On-Avon 2.20 All Inn Hand 2.50 Portobello Girl 3.20 Ballybegg 3.55 Tactical Affair 4.25 Annie Nail 4.55 Windsor Blue
Newmarket 3.45 Treanmor 4.15 Reigning Profit 4.45 Lord Rapscallion 5.15 Sportingsilvermine 5.45 Sixtygeesbaby (nb) 6.15 Bopedro 6.45 Saariselka
Tamfana holds key to the Lockinge
Eleven months on from their last meeting in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, Notable Speech and Rosallion, the 2024 2,000 Guineas winners in England and Ireland respectively, will renew their rivalry in the Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on Saturday, when the eight-strong field will include the current top four in the betting for the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.
Rosallion was a length-and-a-half behind Notable Speech in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket last May, but a decisive winner of the St James’s Palace a few weeks later, a race in which Notable Speech surrendered his unbeaten record.
Richard Hannon’s colt missed the remainder of the 2024 season due to a respiratory infection but is a warm favourite to confirm the Royal Ascot form this time, when he will be running for the first time in 333 days. That absence could leave him vulnerable to a race-fit rival, however, and Dancing Gemini and Tamfana, first and second in a Group Two at Sandown in April, both appeal as potential winners on Saturday.
Dancing Gemini was nearly two lengths in front of Tamfana there but David Menuisier’s filly was carrying a Group One penalty for her win in last season’s Sun Chariot Stakes, and also making her seasonal debut, while Dancing Gemini had the benefit of a previous run.
On 5lb better terms on Saturday and with a run under her belt, Tamfana (2.35) looks overpriced at around 9-2 to get a second Group One win on her CV.
Newbury 12.50 The form horse is Courage Mon Ami, the 2023 Ascot Gold Cup winner, but he has been off the course for 631 days and Sunway, who needed the run last time, could take advantage.
Newmarket 1.05 David O’Meara has a well-established talent for improving new recruits from even the elite training operations and Leadman, a £28k buy out of Andrew Balding’s yard at the autumn sales, made a very promising stable debut at Newcastle earlier this month.
Newbury 1.25 Aidan O’Brien’s Ides Of March was just half a length behind Group One-winning stable companion Whistlejacket last time out and faces nothing of that calibre here.
Newbury 12.50 Sunway 1.25 Ides Of March 2.00 Wave Rider (nap) 2.35 Tamfana (nb) 3.10 Likealot 3.45 Dorney Lake 4.20 My Cloud 4.55 Shameful
Newmarket 1.05 Leadman 1.40 Fondo Blanco 2.15 Good Morning Alex 2.50 Dance To The Music 3.25 Pole Star 4.00 Mighty Boy 4.35 Aberama Gold
Thirsk 1.35 Lam Yai 2.10 Frank The Spark 2.45 Castan 3.20 Hallelujah U 3.55 Obelix 4.30 It Just Takes Time 5.05 Yaajooz 5.40 Calafrio
Bangor-on-Dee 1.45 Got Grey 2.20 Soldier In Mayo 2.55 Etalon 3.30 Old Bridge 4.05 Bumpy Evans 4.40 Famoso 5.10 Aazza
Uttoxeter 5.20 Miss Goldfire 5.55 Walk On High 6.30 Tiger Orchid 7.01 Secret Trix 7.31 Isholo Du Vivien 8.01 Highway One O Five 8.31 Present Fair
Doncaster 5.35 Ocean Heights 6.07 Fast Track Harry 6.42 Beliveinmenow 7.15 Twilight Romance 7.48 Alpha Magic 8.18 Dovey Moon 8.48 Rock N Roll Pinkie
Newmarket 1.40 Roger Varian’s Fondo Blanco has made the frame on all three outings and has the most scope for improvement in this field after just three outings, so an opening mark of 85 should not be an insurmountable problem.
Newbury 2.00 The Roger & Harry Charlton stable has won this ultra-competitive three-year-old handicap five times since 2011 and Wave Rider is likely to have had this race highlighted on his planner for months.
Newmarket 2.15 Good Morning Alex took a step forward to dead-heat at Ripon last time and a 2lb rise looks fair with apprentice Luke Catton taking off 5lb.
Rebel's Romance closes in on £11m in prize money with Yorkshire Cup win
Rebel’s Romance, a globetrotting seven-year-old with seven Group One or Grade One wins around the world, edged £108,000 closer to a career-total of £11m in prize-money with a battling success in the Group Two Yorkshire Cup on Friday, the 25th race of a fine career but the gelding’s first start beyond a mile-and-a-half.
Rebel’s Romance’s middle-distance speed proved decisive as the mile-and-three-quarter contest was run at a crawl until the final three furlongs, when William Buick, on the winner, started the sprint for home and carved out a lead that was just enough to hold the fast-finishing Epic Poet by a head.
Friday’s race could, in theory at least, have opened up some fresh options for Rebel’s Romance in stayers’ events, but Buick was in little doubt afterwards that he will better off returning to 12 furlongs, the trip at which he recorded a second victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar last November.
“When William got off, he said ‘he’s a mile-and-a-half horse, we got away with it’,” Charlie Appleby, Rebel’s Romance’s trainer, said afterwards. “Had he gone and won a more stoutly-run race, then we might have thought about [the Group One] Goodwood [Cup over two miles] but on the evidence of what William said, I think we’ll go back to a mile-and-a-half.”
An attempt to become the first horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf for a third time is likely to be the main target for Rebel’s Romance later in the year, but Appleby will keep him busy until then with potential targets in Germany and Canada on the horizon.
“He’s a real favourite with his own little fan base and rightly so for what he’s achieved through his career,” the trainer said. “We didn’t want to go travelling just yet, we’ve got a bit of a career-end programme for him that will hopefully involve staying in Europe for the summer and then our American trips towards the second half of the season.
“We’ve seen time and time again that he is one of those horses that just puts his head down and goes again when something comes to him. He’ll probably go to Germany [in August] and he’s in the Coronation Cup [at Epsom in early June].”
Appleby also confirmed that his two Newmarket Guineas winners, Desert Flower and Ruling Court, will run in their respective Epsom Classics on 6 and 7 June. Desert Flower is 3-1 favourite for the Oaks on 6 June while Ruling Court is second-favourite for the Derby at 4-1.
Updated
Appleby's Guineas winners on course for Epsom
Appleby also confirmed just now that Ruling Court and Desert Flower, the winners of the 2,000 Guineas and 1,000 Guineas last time out, are both on course to run in the Derby and Oaks respectively at Epsom next month.
“They’ve both come out of their races very well, there was never really any other plan and we’ve seen all the trials. You have to respect all the trials, I was pleased to see Wimbledon Hawkeye [the 2,000 Guineas fifth] running well so that puts some substance to the form. It’s all systems go … and I’m very pleased with both of them.
“Ruling Court is relaxed, he’s going the right way. The filly is hard as teak, she went out for a canter the next morning. You just point her in the right direction and she just does one thing, and that’s gallop.”
Desert Flower is the 3-1 favourite for the Oaks on 6 June, while Ruling Court is the 4-1 second-favourite behind Delacroix for the Derby the following afternoon.
That was a first start over further than a mile-and-a-half for Rebel’s Romance but it was not really a staying event as things turned out, as they went at a crawl until the straight and it was then a sprint for the line.
Rebel’s Romance, a multiple top-level winner at 12 furlongs, had the class to hold the late charge of Epic Poet, but it might have been a different story with a stronger pace.
The first quotes from the bookies’ reps suggested that Rebel’s Romance could drop back in trip for his next start: he’s been trimmed from 10-1 to 8-1 for the Coronation Cup at Epsom next month. And Charlie Appleby, his trainer, has just told ITV Racing that William Buick was of a similar opinion afterwards.
Just enough!
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 16, 2025
Rebel's Romance wins the Boodles Yorkshire Cup 🏆#ITVRacing | @yorkracecourse | @godolphin | @WilliamBuickX pic.twitter.com/e2MnTd5Kc9
3.45 YORK RESULT: Rebel's Romance lands late gamble in Yorkshire Cup
1. REBEL’S ROMANCE 11-10 FAV, 2. Epic Poet 7-1.
Rebel’s Romance settled second behind early leader Continuous, it’s a very steady pace ….
Sweet William, Epic Poet and Alsakib all closely bunched behind …
A mile out, still Continuous leads, Rebel’s ROmance settled in second, with Epic Poet moving up to sit third …
Now turning in … it’s been a crawl all the way … they are spreading out over the track … Rebel’s Romance coming with his run near side, along with with Epic Poet … looks like it will be near side as Rebel’s Romance hits the front … half a furlong out Epic Poet is closing but here’s the line …. Rebel’s Romance has just held on!
Off and running in the Yorkshire Cup!
Plenty of late money for Rebel’s Romance here, he’s down to 11-10 favourite with everything else on the drift.
Latest betting for the Group Two Yorkshire Cup:
6-4 Rebel’s Romance
7-2 Continuous
4-1 Sweet William
11-2 Epic Poet
9-1 Alkasib
Moving swiftly on, the runners will soon be on the way down for the Yorkshire Cup.
Sweet William has just cantered past the stands, he’s impressively consistent and has an obvious chance on his form in the Long Distance Cup in October, as well as his win in the Doncaster Cup a month earlier.
Kon Tiki was a drifter in the betting but that was a smooth performance to extend her unbeaten record to three starts, on her first outing on turf.
“I moved far too early,” David Egan told ITV Racing afterwards. “I should have waited to the furlong pole, because her speed was electric and when I moved on her, I didn’t want to stop that momentum.”
"Her speed was ELECTRIC!" ⚡️
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 16, 2025
What a filly! Where next for Kon Tiki?#ITVRacing | @yorkracecourse | @JaneChappleHyam | @DavidEgan99 pic.twitter.com/x76bVs5hpS
Consecrated never really threatened to reward her backers there, Tom Marquand had her well positioned but she was quite free in teh early stages and then hit a major flat spot over two furlongs out before running on again to finish fourth.
Kon Tiki, by contrast, was always travelling well for David Egan, and moved easily to the lead before staying on well to the line.
She remains unbeaten! 😤
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 16, 2025
Kon Tiki holds them off in the Sky Bet Fillies' Stakes 🥇#ITVRacing | @yorkracecourse | @JaneChappleHyam | @DavidEgan99 pic.twitter.com/ncKrVtvzB5
YORK 3.13: Kon Tiki travels best on the way to Listed success
1. KON TIKI 11-2, 2. Bermuda Longtail 16-1, 3. Troia 12-1.
Consecrated broke well, settles in second against the rail .. The Third Star leads .. Gulya well there too … turning in, The Third Star still leads, and now Consecrated is suddenly struggling … Kon Tiki makes a move and grabs the lead, she’s staying on well … Kon Tiki for the win with Bermuda Longtail following her home …
Off and running in the 3.13 at York …
Starting to load for the 3.13, Consecrated rock-solid at 7-4 …
The Michael Seely Memorial Stakes, run in memory of a much-missed former racing correspondent of The Times, is next on the running order here at York. One non-runner leaves nine to go to post, with William Haggas’s CONSECRATED, unraced at two and an impressive winner on debut at Newbury last month, heading the market at 5-2.
Gulya (Roger Varian/Silvestre de Sousa) has finished second on both of her starts to date but is well-fancied to notch a first win at 100-30, while the unbeaten duo Glittering Surf (Owen Burrows/David Probert) and Kon Tiki (Jane Chapple-Hyam/David Egan) are also attracting support at around 5-1.
Here too, a little belatedly, is the business end of the opening Marygate Fillies’ Stakes:
33-1 WINNER 💸
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 16, 2025
Secret Hideaway's late challenge pays off in the Clipper EBF Marygate Fillies' Stakes 🏆#ITVRacing | @yorkracecourse | @adrian_keatley pic.twitter.com/qdjEeLl5xA
Here’s the closing stages of the 2.42 from ITV Racing’s Twitter/X feed:
Good duel! 🤺
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 16, 2025
Thunder Run defies top weight to win the Knights Solicitors Handicap🥇#ITVRacing | @yorkracecourse| @CliffordleexLee | @karl_burke pic.twitter.com/5qU6SbOn5p
And ITV also captured the moment when Amo Racing’s supremo Kia Joorabchian came to terms with the last-gasp defeat of Tony Montana:
Frustrating for Kia Joorabchian and the Amo Racing team... #ITVRacing pic.twitter.com/nLwus7Sdpm
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 16, 2025
YORK 2.42 RESULT: Thunder Run strikes late
1. THUNDER RUN 5-1, 2. Tony Montana 9-2 fav, 3. Have Secret 10-1.
Salamanca away quickly and into the lead, Brioni and Thunder Run close behind … the pace looks decent and they are stringing out along the back … still Salamanca in front with William Buick, Have Secret tracks him, Brioni still there, Tony Montana comes with a run. …. a furlong out, Salamanca still in front but the challenges are coming … here’s Thunder Run and Tony Montana … they duel for the line and it’s Thunder Run who wins under top weight.
Late money for Tony Montana here, and they are off and running in the 2.42 at York …
YORK 3.45, YORKSHIRE CUP, GROUP TWO, 1M 5F 188YD
Rebel’s Romance remains a solid favourite at around 6-4 for his first run beyond 12 furlongs, though strictly speaking he was a little below his best in the Sheema Classic at Meydan last time.
It’s worth reliving his latest triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, though, as he was the first horse ever to win the race twice in non-consecutive years.
Continuous, meanwhile, is still struggling to return to his three-year-old form in 2023, when his narrow win in the St Leger was the major highlight.
Epic Poet and Continuous were both in the field for the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan in early April, when Epic Poet ran a fine race to finish third.
Next up here on the Knavesmire is a competitive 10-furlong handicap, with Karl Burke’s four-year-old Thunder Run currently a narrow 5-1 favourite to bounce back to his winning form over a mile at the big August meeting here last year, when he was racing off a 4lb lower mark. Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Salamanca is close behind in the market at 11-2, he is unexposed after just six runs and was a winner on the all-weather at Newcastle last time out. This is highly competitive though and while my pick DEBORA’S DREAM is one of the outsiders at 20-1, I would not be hugely surprised to see him outrun those odds. He ran well enough from a high draw at Chester last time, needed a run or two to find his best form last year and was a winner off a 1lb lower mark at Sandown last summer.
Osbornes target Preakness upset with Heart Of Honor
The Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury is the highlight of the domestic action tomorrow but this also has the potential to be a historic weekend for the father-and-daughter team of Jamie and Saffie Osborne, as the Lambourn trainer prepares to saddle Heart Of Honor in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the US Triple Crown, at Pimlico on Saturday.
Heart Of Honor will be Saffie Osborne’s first ever ride in America, but her father was famously within a few inches of victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita in 2014 with his former stable star, Toast Of New York and the pair have high hopes for a big run from Heart Of Honor in tomorrow’s Grade One contest.
Heart Of Honor was beaten a nose by Admire Daytona in the UAE Derby at Meydan last time, when he showed admirable battling qualities all the way to the line.
“It will be a new experience for me, but I’ve spoken to plenty of people about the track and the opposition,” Saffie Osborne told the Press Association on Friday.
“It’s amazing how many people have been willing to help and Sophie Doyle, James’s sister who now rides in America, she was our apprentice when I was only eight and has been helping me out.
“Michael Hills also put me in touch with Steve Cauthen and there’s no man better to speak to about American racing. I’ve been doing plenty of homework and hopefully it will stand me in good stead.”
Heart Of Honor is one of nine runners in the Preakness, which is due off at a minute past midnight BST. Journalism, the runner-up when favourite for the Kentucky Derby earlier this month, is currently quoted at around even-money to win by British bookies, with Heart Of Honour priced up as an outsider at 25-1.
“He ran some huge races in Dubai, but the UAE Derby was a fairly gutting experience which doesn’t get any easier even now,” Osborne said. “But we wouldn’t be doing this and going to America if we didn’t think he had a chance. Anyone would love to have a runner in an American Classic but we’re not there to say we’ve had a runner, we want to go and try to win it.”
Osborne, now 23, was watching at home in Lambourn when Toast Of New York was beaten by a nose in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.
“I always remember Dad doing an interview last year about the race 10 years on,” Osborne said, “and at the end of it he kind of got emotional and said he wants another like Toast so he can try to experience it all again.
“I was always hoping Dad would have another Toast Of New York and people always ask jockeys which races would you like to win and everyone says the Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but there’s a part of me that would love to win a Breeders’ Cup Classic, just for a bit of recompense for Dad.”
Secret Hideaway has been introduced into the Queen Mary betting at 14-1 by Paddy Power/Betfair, while the latter firm reports that runner-up Harry’s Girl was matched for £7,147 on the exchange at the basement price of 1.01. Ouch, for the backers at any rate.
2.10 YORK RESULT: Secret Hideaway springs 33-1 surprise
1. SECRET HIDEAWAY 33-1, 2. Harry’s Girl 15-8, 3. Love Olivia 2-1.
Updated
Saucy Jane and Guernsey Lady fast away, Love Olivia prominent too .. now Harry’s Girl comes with a run and Secret Hideaway making ground on the far side … the outsider is picking them up, sweeps into the lead and Secret Hideaway grabs the win at 33-1…
Off and running in the Marygate Fillies’ Stakes …
This race was first run in 2005, incidentally, since when two winners – Ceiling Kitty in 2012 and Signora Cabello in 2018 – have followed up in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The runners are going to post for the opener here on the Knavesmire, the Marygate Fillies’ Stakes over five furlongs. Harry’s Girl (Richard Hannon/Tom Marquand) heads the betting on 7-4, with Love Olivia (Karl Burke/David Egan) next in at 5-2 for Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing operation. Saucy Jane (Jack Morland/Sam James) and ETERNAL SOLACE (Ollie Sangster/Trevor Whelan) are fancied too at 11-2 and 13-2 respectively and it’s 20-1 bar the four.
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.
