Having a horse compete at Royal Ascot is an ambition many Australian owners harbour.
The feature sprints have been targets for our best speedsters ever since Choisir blazed a trail almost 20 years ago and this year Australia has three runners; Nature Strip, Home Affairs and Artorius.
But the big-name sprinters are not the only horses engaged across the week with an Australian link.
Irish two-year-old Silencer will represent James Harron and a group of owners that include prominent industry participants from Australia, the UK and Ireland, along with Qatar Racing.
The colt was an AU$281,000 purchase from the Goff’s Breeze-Up Sale in the UK in late April with a view to compete at Royal Ascot, a dream Harron has harboured for some time.
Harron has had a taste of Royal Ascot previously through Wandjina and Shamal Wind but undertaking his own operation with a UK-sourced horse has put a different slant on things.
“I’ve had this thought at the back of my mind for quite a few years, and naturally it had to stay there during Covid, however, now that travel is a reality once again it really returned to the front of my thinking,” Harron said.
“We particularly targeted the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale as it has a remarkable record of producing Royal Ascot two-year-old winners with six in the last six years alone.”
Once Harron, a native of Ireland but now Sydney-based, decided it was something he was going to do, he engaged Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock and Martin Buick of de Burgh Equine to help identify the most likely subjects and be on the ground for inspections
Silencer is a son of Kessaar and the Lord Shanakill mare Lady Lizabeth, who is from a family known for producing two-year-old winners.
Harron also bought a filly by top Australian stallion Zoustar who ran the fourth best time of the breeze-up session for $263,000 and has been named Exquisitely.
“Both horses breezed up in great fashion and looked to be fast and precocious enough to give us a chance of getting them to Royal Ascot,” Harron said.
“Silencer is by Kessaar, who was himself a speedy two-year-old, and he is built very much in this mould, as a very powerful and strong colt.
“Exquisitely is by Zoustar, who naturally we know plenty about, and she is also out of a Group 3 winning mare in Ainippe, so that also appealed as it gives her good residual value for our owners down the track.”
Exquisitely, who is trained by Karl Burke, lightened off after her debut sixth placing in as Catterick maiden on May 20 and has gone to the spelling paddock, but Silencer is handling his preparation well.
He has had two runs for Richard Hannon, for a debut second placing in a 1000m Salisbury Novice before a midfield effort when stepping up to 1200m at Epsom on June 3.
Silencer has drawn barrier four of 24 in Wednesday’s Windsor Castle Stakes (1000m) and as of Monday night UK-time remained among the entries for the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes.
“I think he’s a good chance to bounce back to what he looked capable of after his debut back to five furlongs on a more conventional track like Ascot,” Harron said.
“He’s entered in both the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes on Wednesday and the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes on Thursday and we will make a final decision once we have had a chance to look at the fields with Richard Hannon.”
