Elmalka tops 10 in Coronation clash

PA Sport Reporters
June 19, 2024 10:00 am

Opera Singer, Porta Fortuna and Ramatuelle also feature at Royal Ascot.

Roger Varian’s 1000 Guineas heroine Elmalka is set to face nine rivals in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday.

The daughter of Kingman was a surprise winner of last month’s fillies’ Classic at Newmarket and gets the chance to prove that victory was no fluke on the penultimate day of the meeting.

The likely favourite is the Aidan O’Brien-trained Opera Singer, who can be expected to improve from her third-placed finish in the Irish 1,000 Guineas on what was her belated reappearance after suffering a setback in the spring. The Ballydoyle handler also runs an outsider and possible pacemaker in Content.

Donnacha O’Brien’s Porta Fortuna and Christopher Head’s Ramatuelle both reoppose Elmalka after finishing right on her tail when second and third at Newmarket, while the latter is joined on the trip across the Channel by Francis-Henri Graffard’s French Guineas winner Rouhiya.

Unbeaten filly Devoted Queen (Charlie Appleby), Folgaria (Marco Botti), See The Fire (Andrew Balding) and Skellet (Ralph Beckett) complete the line-up.

A field of 15 sprinters has been declared for the other Group One on Friday’s card – the 10th running of the Commonwealth Cup.

With Vandeek and Bucanero Fuerte taken out as expected after both suffered setbacks, the two at the top of the market are Kevin Ryan’s Inisherin and the Karl Burke-trained Elite Status, who both carry the colours of owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum.

Inisherin was supplemented at a cost of GBP 46,000 after his impressive victory in the Sandy Lane at Haydock, while Elite Status dominated his rivals in the Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury last time out.

Clive Cox’s Jasour, winner of the Commonwealth Cup Trial over the course and distance in early May, also features, but Aidan O’Brien has not declared River Tiber, who instead looks set to line up over seven furlongs in the Jersey Stakes on Saturday.

The Ballydoyle handler’s hot favourite Fairy Godmother is one of 17 runners in the opening Albany Stakes, with Appleby’s Mountain Breeze among her opponents, while there are 14 colts in the mix for the King Edward VII Stakes including the William Haggas-trained Space Legend and a quartet of runners for Aidan O’Brien in Agenda, Chief Little Rock, Diego Velazquez and The Euphrates.