Karl Burke gives us the latest on his big team for Royal Ascot 2024 including Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Fallen Angel and Commonwealth Cup hopeful Elite Status.
It has been an excellent start to the year for Karl Burke. With the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas already in the bag and his two-year-old team flying, Burke's win strike-rate and total prize-money is on track for a record-breaking year.
Next up is Royal Ascot – a meeting he has had success at in recent years. He had 37 losers at the meeting before his first winner, Quiet Reflection in the 2016 Commonwealth Cup, but since then he has had winners in 2020 (Dandalla), 2021 (Significantly) and 2022 (Dramatised and Holloway Boy).
Last year he took his biggest ever team to Royal Ascot, 16 runners, returning with no winners. Hot favourite Elite Status was beaten at 7/4 in the Norfolk Stakes and that third, along with Swingalong and Beautiful Diamond who filled the same position, was as good as it got 12 months ago.
“We have a lot of chances but it’s a nightmare of a place to go,” Burke says. “You think you’ve got your horses absolutely on song and you come back home up the A1 with your tail between your legs.
"This season couldn’t have gone much better really, but as always there’s horses that should be performing that you know aren’t and people don’t really see them, but I’m very happy with the way things have gone generally.
“I’m most looking forward to seeing Fallen Angel again. She’s proven she is top class and she deserves to be there.
“Andesite I think is a very good horse and Shareholder, while the two fillies in the Queen Mary go with chances. They are all good horses and if we get them there in the condition that they should be when they walk in the paddock, then I’ll be starting to get excited."
Here’s the team.
THE THREE-YEAR-OLDS
FALLEN ANGEL – Coronation Stakes
She’s a very high-class filly. Obviously we were very happy with the English Guineas, but to go and win the Irish Guineas is a big achievement I think. It was nothing that we did, there was nothing physical, there was nothing wrong with her after Newmarket. I think the run just sharpened her up mentally as much as anything. She didn’t blow much after Newmarket, we had her fairly fit – we were very happy with her going into Newmarket – but she didn’t really handle the undulations on the fast ground. Perhaps that was looking for an excuse on the day, it only meant the difference of a length or two, and we were beaten fair and square. But I was reasonably confident that the track and better ground in Ireland would suit her and pretty confident she would run a big race. We had the option to go to the Prix de Diane and we think she will stay but I don’t think there’s any rush to step her up at this stage. The Coronation Stakes is a fantastic race to go for, it’s Royal Ascot, the owners are geared to go there. We can be pretty aggressive in the way we ride her there. To go over to France on a different switchback track, you’re riding slightly different I would imagine, so we can try that later. Let’s see if we can win a Coronation first.
ELITE STATUS – Commonwealth Cup
He’s a horse I always liked last year. He put up a tremendous performance winning the National Stakes and he disappointed us a little bit at Ascot (in the Norfolk Stakes when third). Sheikh Obaid wanted to step up in trip but I thought we should stick at five furlongs and after that he just got a few niggly injuries that held him back. After that he wintered really well and came out at Newbury and showed us what he is all about. He should improve for fitness for that run, as well. He’d been working well, the problem he had he kept hitting the back of the joint on the sesamoid bone and when they catch that point to that joint and they keep touching it it gets very inflamed and sore. It’s like catching a bruise on your foot and when they do it in a race it stops them really. He hadn’t caught that all winter and touch wood it’s been good since Newbury, so we go there with a chance. He’s got a very high cruising speed and he can quicken off a high cruising speed, as well. The track will suit him well and good ground would be perfect for him.
NIGHT RAIDER – Jersey Stakes
We’re aiming him at the Jersey Stakes. He worked this morning (Tuesday June 11) and he’s got another piece of work to do, which he’ll do at the end of this week. I think he’s a horse with a lot of ability, he just didn’t show it in the Guineas. Everything went wrong for him there, he got very keen and he over-raced, it just didn’t happen, but consequently Danny [Tudhope] didn’t give him a hard time. He’s training nicely now and we’re very hopeful. I thought he would stay the mile, but he certainly won’t stay it if he runs as keen as he did in the Guineas, but seven furlongs should be fine. You could even drop him back to six, he’s not short of speed.
NATIVE WARRIOR – Britannia Stakes
He’s a lovely horse. I think he’s a group horse in the making. He’s working very well. We specifically went for a little maiden to try and protect his mark for the Britannia. Hopefully we get in off 90 now, that’s the next thing. If we get in I think he’s very well-handicapped. We’re only thinking of the Britannia at the moment, but I do think later in the year you’ll see him in Listed and Group 3 races.
CAVIAR HEIGHTS – Hampton Court Stakes
I’m looking forward to seeing him run. He’s a better horse than the one that turned up at the Dante, I think we ran him back too quick after his Listed win at Newmarket on Guineas weekend. He’s training really well, he’ll love the ground, I think he’ll love the track and the trip is perfect for him. He’s a good horse. We just ran him back too quick, we saw stars in our eyes with the Dante and shouldn’t have done, but the horse came out of it fine. He’s had a short break, he has freshened up and he goes to Ascot in good order.
THE OLDER HORSES
ROYAL RHYME – Prince Of Wales’s Stakes
He’s very well. We were delighted to win at Sandown with him and on soft ground I think he can be competitive in Group Ones. Whether he’s as good on faster ground we’ll find out, but I’m hopeful looking at the weather forecast we might get genuine good ground at Royal Ascot, and if we get that Sheikh Obaid is prepared to have a go at the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes. On soft or heavy ground [he could be competitive at this level] without a doubt. He ran well at Ascot on Champions Day at the end of a long season, but he has to prove he can compete at this class on good ground.
SWINGALONG – Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes
She has run a couple of cracking races at Ascot, she was third there in the Commonwealth Cup and fourth on Champions Day, so she loves the track. The ground, whichever way it goes, won’t stop her and she has taken a huge step forward from her opening run of the season.
HOLLOWAY BOY – Royal Hunt Cup
The Royal Hunt Cup is the plan. Nick White, his owner, is keen to step him up even further in trip, try 1m2f with him, but he’s in good order, he’s definitely still got his ability. He has disappointed a little on his first run or two this season, but I’m expecting a big run from him in the Hunt Cup.
LETHAL LEVI – Wokingham Handicap
If he runs like he did at Newbury in the Wokingham I think he can run a big race. He has come out of that race in great form, he’s working really well. He has his quirks, but he’s a horse with a lot of ability on his day.
THE TWO-YEAR-OLDS
ANDESITE – Coventry Stakes
He’s a very good horse. I think he goes there with a genuine chance, I really do. The way he battled first time out, he beat a very good horse of Richard Spencer’s and I think they were gutted he got beat. They drew a long way clear of the rest and Richard Fahey’s horse who was way back came out and won very well at Ripon and I know Richard thinks a lot of him. He’s a high-class horse and if he gets there in the form I think he is in, then I think he'll run a huge race.
LEOVANNI – Queen Mary Stakes
Very nice win first time up at Nottingham. She’s a very quick filly, very straightforward and she behaved impeccably on her racecourse debut. Obviously she’d had the experience of breeze-ups but she’s a good filly.
MISS LAMAI – Queen Mary Stakes
Miss Lamai is also due to go to the Queen Mary. I think she was a tad unlucky in the Marygate at York where she was probably in front half a furlong too soon, it wasn’t the plan to be too handy really. She was a bit slow away first time and Callum Rodriguez didn’t ride her then, so I told him to get her away as you don’t want to be too far back in the Marygate at York, and then she absolutely winged the gates and was travelling too strong. She just got a bit lonely in the last 100 yards but I think she’s a good filly and well worth her place in the Queen Mary.
MILFORD – Norfolk/Windsor Castle Stakes
He’s a good horse and he’ll have entries in the Norfolk and the Coventry. The Norfolk would probably be the favourite and he might have a Windsor Castle entry too, just in case, and I’d imagine we’ll stick to five furlongs. He’s a good horse and I don’t see any reason why he won’t show up well.
SHAREHOLDER – Norfolk Stakes
He’ll definitely go for the Norfolk. He’s a horse with an awful lot of natural ability, he has a lot of speed. We haven’t had him very long and it was a big ask to go to Beverley and take on those winners there. He ran very green and did everything wrong and still managed to get up. I said to Richard Fahey after the race he was only going schooling pace as he jumped the grass cuttings on the winning line, so there’s plenty left in the tank with him.
MOTAWAHIJ – Chesham Stakes
The aim was always the Chesham Stakes with him. One run, we haven’t got time to give him two, and we were delighted with his run up at Hamilton where he was beaten by a very good colt of Richard Fahey’s. I think stepping up in trip will be key to him. He’s not short of speed, but at that level I think you need to quicken again. Hamilton showed us he’s got a great cruising speed but he couldn’t quicken with the winner that day and I think the extra furlong of the Chesham should suit him fine.
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