 |
|
| Sumita Pawar |
 |
Renowned British bloodstock agent, Oliver Gaisford-St Lawrence, hopes to replicate or exceed his achievements from the previous year's event, wherein he purchased three winning horses and two runners-up.
He will be closely watching Army Ethos and Watch My Tracer, two horses purchased for Bahrain-based Victorious Racing.
Gaisford-St Lawrence has been a bloodstock agent since 1991 and has served as chairman of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents (GB) for the past six years. He hopes that the horses will achieve the same success as the team's previous Royal Ascot winners, Bradsell in 2020 and Daahyeh in 2019.
St Lawrence Expands Bahrain Connections
Victorious Racing comes under the wing of His Majesty King Hamad’s representative for humanitarian work and youth affairs Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
St Lawrence has made another acquisition for their connections in Bahrain, this time purchasing the 4YO Eldar Eldarov, who is owned by KHK Racing and won the St Leger.
After coming in second at the Yorkshire Cup earlier this year, Eldarov will run in the Gold Cup. He narrowly won the Gr.2 Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot in an exciting finish last year. The driving force behind KHK Racing is Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who holds positions in the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, General Sports Authority, and Bahrain Olympic Committee.
“Last year’s Royal Ascot was stressful, but then having Bradsell win the Coventry took away a lot of it,” St Lawrence told Great British Racing International.
“It was an amazing week. Everything, on the whole, went right. It’s going to be a tough week to follow. Hopefully, we can produce one winner for the team.
“We have a couple of two-year-olds in the Coventry – Army Ethos, trained by Archie Watson, and Watch My Tracer, trained by George Scott. Both have a chance. It’s such an unknown, both of them have just won maidens. I think Army Ethos is probably more fancied, Archie’s quite high on the horse, so we’ll see where we are.”
This year, Bradsell, the Coventry winner over six furlongs from last year, would compete in the King’s Stand Stakes, a five-furlong race on the flat, St Lawrence added.
“Shaikh Nasser has decided to supplement Bradsell for the King’s Stand, as we think it will suit him,” he explained. “Hollie Doyle and Archie haven’t really felt he’s stayed this year.
“Having won the Coventry last year, we had thought he was a solid six-furlong horse, but we are now thinking this fast pace will really suit him.”
Royal Ascot: The Ultimate Goal
KHK Racing's three-year-old colt named Sakheer is set to participate in the Commonwealth Cup, a six-furlong Group 1 flat race at Ascot. The colt aims to regain the form that led to his victory in the Group Two Mill Reef stakes last autumn.
The horse suffered a setback last May in the 2000 Guineas Stakes when, following heavy rain, he was unable to put on a strong showing on the soft ground.
“Shaikh Khalid very sportingly wanted to run Sakheer in the 2,000 Guineas, but when the rain started falling, Roger and the team were less keen,” St Lawrence said. “It was disappointing we didn’t really get to see whether he stayed a mile on a good surface, but the obvious thing was to drop him back to six furlongs in the Commonwealth Cup.
“He’s been working very well. Little Big Bear looks a strong horse, but, hopefully, Sakheer can give him a run for his money.”
In addition to managing Aislabie Stud in Stetchworth for Fawzi Nass, one of the most prominent owners/trainers in Bahrain, St Lawrence also purchases horses for other Bahraini owners. Nass is also a co-owner of some of the horses in the Victorious Racing stable.
“Royal Ascot is pivotal. Everyone is aiming at it. It’s what every owner wants, to have a fancied runner at Ascot. You only have to look at the amount of people who buy into horses to have runners at Royal Ascot. It’s where everyone wants to have a runner. Long may that last”, he concludes.