Royal Ascot, that most British of sporting events, is going truly global this year.  The Wesley Ward-trained Cannonball has improved with age |
While horses from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong and South Africa have become regular visitors alongside European contenders in recent years, this year there's something extra. A highly significant transatlantic raiding party, under the supervision of California-based Wesley Ward, is donning top hats and tails for the fixture. Although there have been a handful of US runners in the past, Ward's team, which includes King's Stand Stakes hopeful Cannonball, is the most noteworthy to date. It is full of talent, and were sprinter Cannonball, or one of the two-year-olds that Ward has brought across, to be successful, it would be an historic moment for Ascot. The American market would be cracked, and the long-held ambition for the Queen's racecourse to be at the epicentre of world racing would reach a new level of realisation. "It's a very special trip," said Ward, 41, a former champion apprentice jockey, "and we're looking forward to the competition and seeing what can be done."  | It's my life's ambition to be here. Everyone wants to compete in the majors, and Royal Ascot is certainly a major South African trainer Mike de Kock |
The four-year-old Cannonball, a horse who's thrived as he's got older, was most recently a narrowly beaten runner-up at Churchill Downs, Kentucky in May. He's being aimed at the five-furlong King's Stand Stakes - one of Ascot's two legs in the Global Sprint Challenge - on the opening afternoon (Tuesday) with the possibility of a second run in the slightly longer Golden Jubilee Stakes (the Challenge's second Ascot leg) four days later. Ward said: "If there ever was a horse that could run again so soon it would be Cannonball. After races or gallops, it takes two guys to hold him, so he'd be keen to go again." Cannonball's opponents in the Group One Kings Stand Stakes include home-trained Amour Propre and Australia's Scenic Blast. Fellow Aussie raider and Ascot legend Takeover Target, South African challenger J J The Jet Plane and the Hong Kong champion Sacred Kingdom, a winner in Singapore in May, are all targeting the Golden Jubilee Stakes, also Group One.  Trainer Joe Janiak and Takeover Target are no strangers to Ascot success |
With a Royal Ascot record of never being out of the first four in six races at the meeting since 2006, the nine-year-old Takeover Target is a popular choice, but not as popular as JJ The Jet Plane. The gelding, the winner of seven races from 10 starts in South Africa, romped to victory in his prep race at Windsor on 1 June, and trainer Mike de Kock has been exuding positive vibes. "He was 85 to 90% right at Windsor," explained De Kock, "but couldn't be better now. "It's my life's ambition to be here. Everyone wants to compete in the majors, and Royal Ascot is certainly a major. "I have a healthy respect for Sacred Kingdom, but he's done a lot of travelling recently, and it will be hard to be spot-on after so much travelling." Since Australia's Choisir won both big sprints in 2003, these races have become as much a part of Royal Ascot tradition as the dress code and royal procession. Two more international thrillers are on the cards this time around to ensure that tradition is retained for another year.
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