Hootenanny Seeks Commonwealth Cup at Ascot
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U.S.-based Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. IT) winner Hootenanny will try to win a stakes at Royal Ascot for a second straight year when he faces an expected 17 challengers in the $360,000 Commonwealth Cup (Eng-I) Friday, June 19.
Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier, and Michael Tabor's Hootenanny prepped for the trip with a season-opening allowance race victory in a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint April 18 at Keeneland. Trained by Wesley Ward, the son of Quality Road cruised to a 6 1/4-length victory in his 3-year-old season debut.
That effort marked the first start for Hootenany since his three-quarter-length victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Oct. 31 at Santa Anita Park. Hootenanny's splendid juvenile season also included a victory in last year's Windsor Castle Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting and a runner-up finish in the Darley Prix Morny (Fr-I) at Deauville.
Hootenanny is expected to be the second choice in international wagering on the Commonwealth Cup, a six-furlong spring for 3-year-olds for which Paul Jacobs' group III winner Limato is expected to be favored.
Hootenanny is not the only U.S.-based horse who will try to make headlines in a group I race at Ascot on Friday as Sagamore Farm, Allen Rosenblum, and The Club Racing's Miss Temple City will try for a second straight stakes win and first group stakes victory in the Coronantion Stakes (Eng-I), a one-mile race for 3-year-old fillies.
Trained by Graham Motion, Miss Temple City cruised to a 2 3/4-length victory in the Hilltop Stakes May 15 on the turf at Pimlico Race Course, an effort that followed a runner-up finish to undefeated grade I winner Lady Eli in the Appalachian Stakes Presented by Japan Racing Association (gr. IIIT).
Despite those strong efforts, Miss Temple City, by Temple City , is expected to be a longshot in a field of nine that includes Smith, Magnier, and Tabor's Found, who won a group I race in France last year and enters off a runner-up finish in the Tattersalls Irish One Thousand Guineas (Ire-I); and Godolphin Racing group II winner Lucida, who enters off a runner-up finish in the QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (Eng-I).