It’s a spectacle you’ll never see on a track in North America: as many as 32 horses thundering down a straight course. In a field that bulky, some race along the far side, others come down the middle, and the rest run along the grandstand side. It’s a wild scene.
It’s a brutally difficult job for the race caller, who must report what’s happening among three groups spread across the turf. It’s also confusing and stressful for the horseplayer. Viewing tip: When you wager, memorize the colors of your horse’s silks, or you may have no idea where it is in those cavalry charges.
On Tuesday, the opening day of the incomparable Royal Ascot meeting, 27 horses will charge 5 furlongs in the third race, the King Charles III Stakes (10:40 a.m. ET). It’s a Grade I and a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
Two years ago, Starlust excelled in both races, finishing second in the King Charles before taking the Turf Sprint at odds of 34-1.
Starlust will be back at Ascot on Tuesday, and he’s 40-1 on the early line. Also in the field is Khaadem (80-1), 1-for-4 in the U.S., including a third-place finish in last year’s Turf Sprint. Other returnees familiar to American fans are Asfoora (12-1), fifth in last year’s Sprint, and Big Mojo (25-1), winner of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and fourth in the 2024 Turf Sprint.
Huge fields usually don’t produce short-priced winners, but Australian shipper Overpass is the 3-1 early favorite. The Aussies produce some of the world’s best sprinters, and they’ve won often in this century at Royal Ascot. Despite a 4-for-24 record in stakes and a five-race losing streak, the 7-year-old gelding is considered a major threat because of the competition he’s faced.
Trainer Bjorn Baker is a major player Down Under, with five Group 1 victories in the past 14 months. He said his world traveler handled the long journey well, and he liked his gallop on Friday at Ascot.
“I thought he looked pretty good,” Baker said. “It’s always hard to get a line on it because the undulations make it fairly different from what we do every day, but he was good through the finish line.”
Baker sounds confident but admits it’s a major challenge.
“You’ve got to respect the locals, and I think there’s a French horse coming over as well,” he said. “They’re always hard to beat, and they’re always set for these big races.”
That French horse is Rayevka, who was sent across the English Channel by France’s leading trainer, Henri Graffard. The 4-year-old filly comes in off a 1¾-length win in a 5-furlong Group 3 at Longchamp. She was sired by Blue Point, who in 2018 and 2019 swept the King’s Stand Stakes, which was renamed the King Charles III Stakes in 2023 to mark the new king’s 75th birthday.
“I’m really looking forward to running her,” Graffard said. “I found out she’s really a 5-furlong filly. I think she’ll be very competitive. If they go at a strong pace, she’ll love that.”
Another horse to watch is the 5-year-old Irish-bred Night Raider, a multiple-stakes winner who’s 2-for-2 in a Group 2 and Group 3 this year.
“He’s been a different horse since he’s been gelded,” trainer Karl Burke said.
Ed McNamara is an award-winning racing writer who has covered the sport since 1981 for The Bergen (N.J.) Record, Newsday, ESPN, Thorocap, and USRacing. He is the author of Cajun Racing: From the Bush Tracks to the Triple Crown and Racing Around the World, and a contributor to The Most Glorious Crown and The Racetracks of America. He has also written for racing publications in France and Italy.
