Dartmouth (far right) finishing second in The Queen’s silks in last year’s Canadian International (photo via Woodbine Entertainment).
A field of 14 will go postward in the third race on closing day at Royal Ascot — the 1 ½-mile Hardwicke Stakes (GII) for 4-year-olds and upward. The Queen’s Dartmouth, who won this event last year, is back to defend his title off a win in the Yorkshire Cup (GII) at York last month. American racing fans will likely remember him as the runner-up to Erupt in the Canadian International (GI) at Woodbine last October, but he is a multiple group winner in England and has captured eight of his 16 career starts. Leading rider Ryan Moore rides for Sir Michael Stoute and a typical effort will make him tough to beat, giving his royal owner her first win of the meeting.
Coolmore sends out the Group 2 winner Idaho, who doesn’t win often but has proven consistent on two continents. After a long winter break, the Aidan O’Brien trainee had a prep for this race and figures to run better than the sixth he produced in that effort. He’s a good racehorse who may just need some luck. Jockey Seamie Heffernan rides and the pair will look to get a typical trip mid-pack, saving their best run for the stretch drive.
Lady Bamford’s Wings of Desire hasn’t raced in 10 months, but trainer John Gosden thinks this race is a good spot for a comeback for the Group 2-winning son of Pivotal. He’s already defeated both Dartmouth and Idaho before being sidelined, and he was second to division leader, Breeders’ Cup (GI) and Prince of Wales’s Stakes (GI) winner Highland Reel over this course a year ago. He may need a race, but he’s dangerous if fit. William Buick rides.
Post time for the Hardwicke Stakes is set for 10:40 a.m. ET.
California native and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Ransom is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. She got her start in racing working in the publicity departments at Calder Race Course and Hialeah Park, as well as in the racing office at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. She then spent six years in Lexington, KY, at BRISnet.com, where she helped create and develop the company’s popular newsletters: Handicapper’s Edge and Bloodstock Journal.After returning to California, she served six years as the Southern California news correspondent for BloodHorse, assisted in the publicity department at Santa Anita Park and was a contributor to many other racing publications, including HorsePlayer Magazine and Trainer Magazine. She then spent seven years at HRTV and HRTV.com in various roles as researcher, programming assistant, producer and social media and marketing manager.
She has also walked hots and groomed runners, worked the elite sales in Kentucky for top-class consignors and volunteers for several racehorse retirement organizations, including CARMA.In 2016, Margaret was the recipient of the prestigious Stanley Bergstein Writing Award, sponsored by Team Valor, and was an Eclipse Award honorable mention for her story, “The Shocking Untold Story of Maria Borell,” which appeared on USRacing.com. The article and subsequent stories helped save 43 abandoned and neglected Thoroughbreds in Kentucky and also helped create a new animal welfare law in Kentucky known as the “Borell Law.”Margaret’s very first Breeders’ Cup was at Hollywood Park in 1984 and she has attended more than half of the Breeders’ Cups since. She counts Holy Bull and Arrogate as her favorite horses of all time.She lives in Robinson, Texas, with her longtime beau, Tony. She is the executive director of the 501(c)(3) non-profit horse rescue, The Bridge Sanctuary.
