Tag Archive for: John Warren

Circle Of Fire still holding King Edward VII as an option

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Royal runner Circle Of Fire will be considered for both the Queen’s Vase and the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot next week.

There could be as many as eight horses carrying the famous purple and scarlet colours of the King and Queen at the five-day meeting, although connections are still weighing up the options for a couple of them.

Among those is the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Circle Of Fire, an unexposed three-year-old who finished third in the Lingfield Derby Trial on the second run of his Classic campaign.

The Almanzor colt holds entries in a pair of Group Two contests, Wednesday’s Queen’s Vase over a mile and three-quarters and Friday’s King Edward VII Stakes over a mile and a half.

The King and Queen’s racing and bloodstock adviser, John Warren, said: “We are going to look at the King Edward VII for Circle Of Fire, just because Sir Michael Stoute holds him in high regard. We think he is a stamina horse.

“He has just been a big, physical improver, so we think he is one of those horses, typically trained by Sir Michael, that has potentially got some improvement in him. He prefers to bring them along very quietly and nicely.

“He is a galloper and there is a great temptation to go for the Queen’s Vase, but before the commitment is made, we are just going to look at the Edward VII and get our heads around it.

“Hopefully, he is a horse on the up, as it were. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him. We hope he has a bright future.”

The rare prospect of two royal runners in the same race could occur, with Market Value also entered in the Queen’s Vase.

Queen Elizabeth II with John Warren after Estimate won the 2013 Gold Cup
Queen Elizabeth II with John Warren after Estimate won the 2013 Gold Cup (Tim Ireland/PA)

Trained by William Haggas, the daughter of Siyouni is out of Estimate, the mare who made history by becoming the first to win the Ascot Gold Cup for a reigning monarch, when famously obliging for the late Queen a decade ago.

“We have made an entry for Market Value in the Queen’s Vase,” said Warren. “She is the daughter of Estimate, but she is more of a free-going type. She is a filly who is only just coming to hand now.

“She is totally unexposed and she is only rated 82, so you could argue that on face value, she shouldn’t be qualified for anything at the moment. She is only on the up and learning her trade. She is a filly with plenty to come, we hope.”

Market Value has only had three outings in her career. Yet she has improved on each occasion and on her second run this term, the three-year-old relished the step up to 10 furlongs in romping to a three-and-a-half-length success in a fillies’ maiden at Ripon.

“The further she went, the more she looked like she was liking it,” Warren added. “If she wasn’t such a free-going sort, you’d have to feel confident she’d stay a mile and three-quarters, being a daughter of a Gold Cup winner and Siyouni, who is well capable of getting something to stay. That will be the caveat.

“This is the only real race for her and we are going to take it to the wire and see if she does get in.

“If William Haggas is happy with her on the morning of declarations, which at the moment he is, as she worked nicely on Thursday morning with an older filly, he’s confident she will run a nice race.

“She’ll take her chance if she can get in and if he’s happy running to the wire.

“So, we have potentially two for the Vase. There was a back-up plan for her to run somewhere else on Saturday if she doesn’t get in.

“It will be very interesting. She is on very good form, so wherever she goes, she’s going to run a nice race, but that’s the caveat, whether she will really stay if she is able. If she runs, she will almost certainly be ridden by Tom Marquand.”

Desert Hero, also trained by Haggas, will will head to the King George V Handicap on Thursday, on the back of being a beaten favourite in the London Gold Cup on his seasonal bow at Newbury last month.

“I think we think he wants a mile and a half,” said Warren. “He is by Sea The Stars and I think this race will suit him very nicely.

Harry Davies comes in for the ride on King's Lynn
Harry Davies comes in for the ride on King’s Lynn (John Walton/PA)

“He has the right profile for the race. I’d be hopeful he will run a nice race and I think Tom Marquand will ride, if he can do the weight.”

The John and Thady Gosden-trained pair Saga and Reach For The Moon will respectively run in the Wolferton Stakes on Tuesday and Royal Hunt Cup on Wednesday, with Frankie Dettori aboard.

There will also be a chance for young jockey and 3lb claimer Harry Davies, who comes in for the ride on the Andrew Balding-trained King’s Lynn in the Wokingham on Saturday. The six-year-old was seventh in the King’s Stand in both 2021 and 2022.

“Andrew is really happy with where he is,” said Warren. “He has run some very nice races at Ascot without getting right on top of them, but nothing would surprise us.

“It’s a handicap – anything can happen in a handicap. The horse is on good form, he likes the track well. He’s got lots of things going for him and a 3lb claimer might help.”

John Warren with Educator, who was the first runner for the King at Salisbury last September
John Warren with Educator, who was the first runner for the King at Salisbury last September (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Educator represents Haggas in Friday’s Duke of Edinburgh Handicap over 12 furlongs.

Warren said: “He is in the Copper Horse, but we don’t really want to experiment over a mile and six furlongs, so if he can get into the Duke of Edinburgh that would be his race. Gelding has definitely helped him.

“He has been threatening for some time and his last race proved he does stay a mile and a half. I think he has grown up a lot now and I think he is a nice prospect, a lovely sound horse, who is just coming of age now.”

Candle Of Hope completes the royal team and goes over a mile in the Sandringham on Friday.

Her trainer Richard Hughes said: “She won her maiden at Newbury and then was Listed-placed when third in the Denford there. Then she was unlucky at Lingfield at the start of the year in the Listed Spring Cup.

Candle Of Hope runs in the Sandringham Stakes for trainer Richard Hughes
Candle Of Hope runs in the Sandringham Stakes for trainer Richard Hughes (Steven Paston/PA)

“We go there claiming three pounds off a mark of 91. She might be competitive, although a stiff mile might catch her out.

“I’m very honoured to be training for the King. I’m the first Irishman to train for him, which makes me very proud.”



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Dettori hoping he can crown final Ascot with royal winner

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Frankie Dettori would “love nothing better” than to ride a winner for the King and Queen at Royal Ascot.

Racing’s poster boy, in his last year in the saddle before retirement, will wear the famous purple and scarlet colours at least twice at the five-day meeting which starts on Tuesday.

And he hopes to raise the roof in front of the royal party, who are expected to attend each day.

“It was an honour to ride for the (late) Queen. I always wore those silks with pride and nothing has changed,” said Dettori.

“I am excited to ride for King Charles and Queen Camilla. I would love nothing better than to ride a winner for them next week. A royal winner would raise the roof. It would be fantastic and I’m obviously really looking forward to the meeting.”

One of the late Queen’s greatest loves was the thoroughbred and she took a keen interest in racing and breeding throughout her life.

She had 24 winners at Royal Ascot, the last of which came in 2020 when Tactical landed the Windsor Castle Stakes. Her first came just days after her coronation in 1953 with Choir Boy beating 20 rivals to land the Royal Hunt Cup.

Following her death in September, this will be the first Royal Ascot for the King and Queen, with the potential for eight runners in the 35 races.

John Warren, the King and Queen’s racing and bloodstock adviser, says the excitement is building in royal circles.

“We are hopeful the King and Queen will race through the week and they will be very much following their runners. They are really very much looking forward to a wonderful week’s racing, which is tremendous,” Warren told the PA news agency.

“Everyone is excited by their participation and the fact they are really engaged and looking forward to it.

“The King understands the bigger picture. He is more than interested in racing. It is something he’d heard in osmosis all his life.

“What with the Queen’s enthusiasm, racing is lucky to have two great advocates, people who are engaged in the sport we all love.”

Dettori will ride royal runners Saga and Reach For the Moon, who are trained by John Gosden in partnership with son, Thady.

Reach For The Moon will head to the Royal Hunt Cup
Reach For The Moon will head to the Royal Hunt Cup (Alan Crowhurst/PA)

At last year’s meeting, Saga ran a cracker under Dettori in the Britannia Stakes, finishing a head second to Thesis.

The son of Invincible Spirit is again among the main hopes for the royals, having opened his four-year-old campaign with a head defeat to King Of Conquest over nine furlongs at Newmarket.

Warren said: “On day one, we have Saga in the Wolferton Stakes.

“It was a nice run last time at Newmarket. It will be interesting. We don’t have too many fears about him staying a little bit further, so we feel the mile and two (furlongs) should be fine for him.

“The Royal Hunt Cup was a back-up as we didn’t know he would get into the Wolferton, as there are only 16 who can get in, so you have to give yourself a second string to the bow.

“He ran jolly well last year, so he is a capable horse.”

The late Queen with Frankie Dettori and Reach For The Moon at Royal Ascot in 2021
The late Queen with Frankie Dettori and Reach For The Moon at Royal Ascot in 2021 (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Dettori will also partner Reach For The Moon, who was expected to land the Hampton Court at the meeting last year, only for the 2-5 favourite to be downed by Claymore. He was also second at Royal Ascot in 2021, to Point Lonsdale in the Chesham.

After being gelded over the winter, the one-time Derby hope was last of seven on his seasonal bow in the Earl of Sefton Stakes at Newmarket.

He drops back to a mile for the Royal Hunt Cup on Wednesday.

“He will take his chance,” said Warren. “He has been rusty in a way and we just haven’t quite got him where the trainer wants to have him, but is on very good form now, so we are hopeful.

“Probably a mile is the right trip for him. A big field might help him, cover him up and be kidded along a little bit, and hopefully he’ll just get into his rhythm and then use his ability when it matters. Frankie will ride both.”



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Slipofthepen can write his ticket to Ascot with Sandown victory

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Slipofthepen will bid to punch his ticket to Royal Ascot when he takes on three rivals in the Heron Stakes at Sandown on Tuesday evening.

The unbeaten colt, who is owned by the King and Queen, is a general 16-1 chance for the Betfred Derby a fortnight on Saturday.

However, it seems likely that Slipofthepen, who will be ridden by James Doyle, will bypass the Epsom Classic and head to the Royal meeting, where he holds an entry in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

Slipofthepen after winning at Kempton
Slipofthepen after winning at Kempton (Jockey Club)

The son of Night Of Thunder won a novice race over a mile on debut at Kempton in November.

He returned to the same all-weather course and distance to score with some ease in a conditions event last month, yet Sunday’s Poule d’Essai des Poulins at ParisLongchamp came a little too quickly.

The King’s racing manager, John Warren, said: “We were disappointed not to get Slipofthepen to the French 2000 Guineas, but the ground was too heavy for such a good-moving colt.

“We are hoping for a good showing so that we can find out where he sits to be aimed at Royal Ascot.

“John Gosden thinks he is a pretty smart colt, so we are treating him with plenty of respect.”

Slipofthepen has a little to find on ratings with the Ralph Beckett-trained Grey’s Monument, who won twice last season as a juvenile and signed off with a runner-up finish in the Group Two Horris Hill at Newbury.

He tackles a mile for only the second time in eight starts, having opened his Classic campaign with a 19-length defeat by subsequent French Guineas runner-up Isaac Shelby in the Greenham back at the Berkshire track.

Beckett said: “The track and ground should suit him. He’s in great shape and he’s come on for his seasonal debut and we’re looking forward to seeing him on a round track.

Ralph Beckett feels Grey's Monument will improve for his recent Newbury run
Ralph Beckett feels Grey’s Monument will improve for his recent Newbury run (Mike Egerton/PA)

“I don’t think he got bogged down in the mud (in the Greenham). I just think he needed it.

“It will be only his second run over a mile, but arguably it was his best run at York when he won over this trip, so we’re looking forward to it.”

The Charlie Johnston-trained Finn’s Charm, who won a decent mile handicap at Musselburgh on his return, and Captain Winters, who was 10 lengths behind him on his seasonal bow, complete the field for the Listed contest.



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