Brilliant Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Lake Victoria to miss Royal Ascot after setback

Lake Victoria will not run at Royal Ascot next week with Aidan O’Brien hoping the extra time to recover from winning the Irish 1,000 Guineas will help the brilliant filly in the long run.

She had been a warm favourite for the Coronation Stakes at the royal meeting at a general 5-6 on Monday morning, but the daughter of Frankel was a notable drifter out to 6-1 heading into Monday lunchtime.

In a post on X, Coolmore said: “Lake Victoria will not run at Royal Ascot. She will have an easy few weeks and will return for a late summer/autumn campaign.”

Lake Victoria won all five of her starts as a two-year-old last year, three of which came at the top level, but she suffered a first defeat when a disappointing sixth of ten on her seasonal reappearance in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket last month.

However, she returned to her brilliant best in the Irish equivalent three weeks later when defeating California Dreamer by two and a quarter lengths.

Speaking on Monday afternoon, O’Brien elaborated on the decision. He said: “We just wanted to do the best thing by the filly and we thought it would be better to leave her rather than train her for Royal Ascot. We just think giving her time to recover from the Irish Guineas at the Curragh would stand to her in the long run. 

“She’ll be lovely to bring back in the autumn and the obvious race to target would be the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown in September. She will probably have one run before that.”

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Coronation shake-up – including an exciting supplementary entry

Kon Tiki struck at Listed level at York’s Dante meeting to stretch her unbeaten record to threeCredit: Edward Whitaker

Zarigana, who was promoted to first in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches after interference caused by Shes Perfect, is now evens favourite for the Coronation Stakes with bet365.

However, the Coronation is set for some extra spice after Jane Chapple-Hyam revealed she will supplement her unbeaten York Listed winner Kon Tiki.

The unbeaten daughter of Night Of Thunder was forced to miss an original Group 1 target in the 1,000 Guineas as she needed more time, a policy that paid off when she trounced Bermuda Longtail and subsequent Listed winner Troia in the Michael Seely Memorial Fillies’ Stakes on the Knavesmire.

Kon Tiki was given the green light for Royal Ascot after working nicely under jockey David Egan in Newmarket at the weekend and she has been introduced at 6-1 by Paddy Power for the Coronation, with connections happy to pay the £46,000 supplementary fee.

Chapple-Hyam said: “We’re planning to supplement Kon Tiki into the Coronation Stakes at Ascot after she pleased in a gallop at the weekend. We just needed to see how she worked and owner Peter Harris wants to join in the fun at Royal Ascot.

“We’d decided to supplement well before the news came about Lake Victoria and hopefully we can give the French filly a good run for our money.”

Until recently, Chapple-Hyam’s main connection to Royal Ascot was boarding overseas runners for the meeting at her Abington Place Stables including the mighty Black Caviar.

She said: “We’ve hosted everybody else’s big Royal Ascot hopes over the years and it’s nice we’re now having some of our own. We plan to have five Royal Ascot runners overall as we also hope to supplement Prime Art into the King Charles III Stakes.“

Coronation Stakes (Royal Ascot, June 20)

Paddy Power: evens Zarigana, 6 Exactly, Kon Tiki (needs to be supplemented), 7 Shes Perfect, 10 Desert Flower, 12 Bedtime Story, 16 Chantilly Lace, 20 Cercene, Flight, 25 January, Simmering, 33 Celestial Orbit, Elwateen, Glittering Surf, Heavens Gate, 40 Consecrated, Duty First, Merrily, 50 Red Letter, 66 Cathedral.

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