3 minute read

Part Two of our Royal Ascot acrostic arrives ready to bring in one of racing's greatest weeks.

Following on from Part One - which you can read here - we roll on to Part Two. Back to the top of five fablous days for another round of acrostic fun. Enjoy. 

Part Two:

ASFOORA

SEE THE FIRE

CANDELARI

OWEN BURROWS

TREANMOR

Asfoora:

We signed off Part One of our Royal Acrostic highlighting that the Aussie sprinters have gone with more gusto on Day One than Day Five, making the King Charles III Stakes the sprint of the week in modern times – the battles of Battaash and Blue Point, bookended by brilliance from Lady Aurelia and Nature Strip, outshining the more valuable Jubilee -but the natural order is restored in 2025, the Jubilee the preferred prize of not just the visitors but the best of the British.

Only Asfoora travels from further than France to fly over the five on the opening day.

Asfoora ran a RAS Rating of 121 to win this last year, matching her best from home but running ahead of the form that put her on the plane. Her pre-flight prep peaked at 112 before setting off in 2024. This time she has banked a win - rated 115 - in two tune-ups and the task ahead looks no tougher.

Good news then, but Asfoora's place among Aussie sprinters – a soft set at present – tempers things somewhat. Her 115 is a performance tied for 70th down under this season, with 45 individual horses on that list with one of the 69 faster figures than hers. 

Her price and her place, towards the top of the betting, backs up the claim that this is no tremendous task but that is the case for others as well.

Night Raider turned his toes up at the end of a fast 1200m at York but that came against a better brand of sprinter and his switch back to the short course sees him appeal most.

See The Fire:

It seems right that the Prince of Wales should feature the winner of the Middleton, but See The Fire was supplemented for reasons beyond simple serendipity.

The Middleton was a massacre, See The Fire travelling all over the outmatched chasers and putting the foot down with authority when the time came to kill.

A RAS Rating of 125 has only been bettered by one mare in 2025, Via Sistina, and in See The Fire we have a mare that compares. After 12 starts, Via Sistina was a Group One winner but See The Fire's latest sees her rated a touch ahead.

Via Sistina peaked at start 13, running second in the Champion at Ascot. See The Fire may peak and still settle for second at Ascot as well, Los Angeles flagged in Part One as the top rated horse going into the week, but the future still burns bright.

Candelari:

The local lead-up to the Ascot Gold Cup is the Sagaro Stakes, named after the mighty French stayer who won the Gold Cup three times from 1975 to 1977, but there hasn't been a cross-channel success in the week's most storied and iconic prize since.

In recent times, the race has belonged to two: the Gosden's with Stradivarius and Aidan O'Brien who has won it nine times – Yeats and Kyprios his multiple winners and champions of this scene.

Between them they saddle a tick over 70% of the chance implied by the early markets, Gosden with last year's second and third, Trawlerman and Sweet William – both as good as ever based of prep runs - and O'Brien with the favourite Illinois with blue blood and formlines to die for.

But the French have a Frankel, Francis-Henri Graffard and the figure – Candelari at the top of the ratings with form found in just five, marking him out as their best shot since Vazirabad.

Vazirabad came here just once and just missed, at the end - his final run coming after winning the Vigier with a rating of 123. Candelari comes off the same rating, in the same race, but at the beginning.

A better recipe? Or is more seasoning required? Trust France, and Francis, to know the secret to the sauce.

Owen Burrows:

Anmaat is the headline but Falakeyah the frontline among Owen Burrows' brigade for the week, shaking off a setback to run in Friday's Coronation Stakes.

The setback was reportedly minor and that it forces her back to a mile may be a blessing, as she showed plenty of pace winning the Pretty Polly, running the legs out of the chasers and posting a speed figure that said she belonged in the 1000 Guineas run later on the card.  

Second through seventh behind her have all come out and run improved ratings since, highlighting that they were dragged out of their comfort zones at Newmarket by a winner with weapons which they lacked.

There are a few more guns engaged this time, however, with Zarigana the most lethal-looking of them in a race where the French have done very well down the years, but she stays at a mile and spots Falakeyah a start under Barzalona who has for winners at four percent around here while the betting as expected twice that.

Treanmor:

The story goes that these stories only go as far as a tip – it's a winner we want – so here goes.

We've hinted at them throughout without hammering one home but in Treanmor we find one who can hammer his Chesham rivals and send us home winners on the final day.  

Off a steady gallop he was fresh and free early, and briefly looked lost, but then found and was going further ahead the further they went – his closing splits saying seven on a stiffer track could draw out something special.

Its too early for final prices or final fields but the stable pencilled him in for this and that surely became ink after stablemate Military Code was handed the Coventry job on day one after also showing fast form on firm ground in the lead up.

Charlie Appleby has made a flying start with his juvenile team this year and none have started with more promise than Treanmor who should end the week a winner.