Mister Sketch will be sporting the colours of Wathnan Racing when he returns to Newbury for the Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes.
The Eve Johnson Houghton-trained youngster – who is one of 14 confirmed for the Group Two event – was narrowly beaten at the Berkshire track on debut in July before setting the record straight in style at Salisbury last month.
There the strapping son of Territories romped to an emphatic nine-and-a-half-length success which alerted his new ownership team to his potential and they are excited to see him take the leap into deeper waters when he wears their silks for the first time on Saturday afternoon.
“The team is very excited to have one with Eve,” said Richard Brown, racing adviser to the owners.
“He’s a lovely, big horse and I was really taken with him when I went to see him and we’re looking forward to seeing him run in the Mill Reef.
“He’s a big lad and whatever he does this year, I’ll be really surprised if he doesn’t do better next year.”
The Qatar-based ownership enterprise have another smart two-year-old on their hands in Richard Fahey’s Native American, who has impressed in two unbeaten performances so far, and was last seen scooping a valuable sales race at the Curragh earlier this month.
He has a plethora of big-race options both at home and abroad for the autumn with connections keen to test the son of Sioux Nation in Pattern company in his next start.
But with the feedback from jockey Colin Keane indicating Native American would prefer a sounder surface, all options remain on the table for now, with his next outing set to be determined by the weather forecast.
“Richard was keen to take him over there for the experience – travelling overnight and all those things that go with it,” continued Brown, reflecting on Native American’s successful raid to Ireland.
“We were delighted he won and hopefully we can build from here, but Colin said he did not enjoy the ground and I think we’ll be avoiding soft and/or tacky ground, from now on.
“I suppose we just we have to be on weather watch now for the autumn targets and we would be keen to avoid soft ground.
“He’s a big horse and he’s got all the scope to be a better horse next year. We’re obviously keen to run him again, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he didn’t run until next year.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to find somewhere with decent ground before the end of the season to drop him in at stakes level.”
Ascot announces prize-money increase boost for 2024
Ascot has announced an increase in prize-money for 2024 when the King’s Stand sprint will also be run as the King Charles III Stakes for the first time.
Prize-money for 2024 will be worth £17.5million, an increase of 3.9 per cent on 2023, with Royal Ascot accounting for £10million on its own.
The figure excludes the industry-owned Qipco British Champions Day fixture in October.
Group One races at Royal Ascot will be run for a minimum of £650,000 (up from £600,000) while no race will be worth less than £110,000 at the big meeting.
Royal Ascot 2023 benefitted from the first royal winner since the King’s succession to the throne through William Haggas’ Desert Hero.
Nick Smith, director of racing and public affairs at Ascot, said: “We are pleased to be delivering these prize-money increases in 2024 against a backdrop of uncertainty and an unprecedented number of negative headwinds for the industry. The financial impact on all facets of the industry is already being acutely felt.
“It is, however, crucial for Royal Ascot to maintain its position on the global stage at a time when participants at home and abroad have so many alternative lucrative options away from Britain.
“Whist the main increases have been made to the Royal meeting to enable us to get to £10million for the first time, we have made increases in other areas of the programme as well.
“These include increases to fit with the new Premier fixture structure, including at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, where there is a particular focus on maintaining full fields.
“Importantly, no race at Ascot will be run for less than in 2023 including at our core (non-Premier) fixtures. This is in spite of a reduction in central funding to this element of the programme, which has therefore required further increases in executive contribution.”
Australian adventure could come under consideration for Desert Hero
William Haggas has raised the possibility of the King and Queen’s Desert Hero running in Australia in the new year.
A winner at Royal Ascot in June, he then chased Classic glory in the St Leger at Doncaster but with the King and Queen in attendance he could only finish an honourable third.
He was briefly under consideration for the Melbourne Cup which created a real buzz in Australia, but plans were shelved to give him time to recover from his Classic bid.
Now Haggas, who has enjoyed great success in Australia with the likes of Addeybb and Dubai Honour, has suggested the Tancred Stakes, a Group One over a mile and a half at Rosehill in Sydney, could be a viable option.
“We won’t decide until January. They won’t go into quarantine until February 20 and the first race is March 23, I think they would arrive in Australia on March 9,” Haggas told Sky Sports Racing.
“Dubai Honour is going to go and a staying horse called Post Impressionist will go who has been sold to Australian connections.
“We are umming and ahhing about Desert Hero maybe going for the Tancred Stakes, I’m not sure. He’s not thriving at the moment so I’m not sure. He’s just not enjoying the cold but there’s plenty of time, he’s come back in from his holiday so we’ll see.
“We won’t make any decision on him for ages. It’s a long way off.”
Vincent Ho prevails in battle for International Jockeys’ crown
Vincent Ho saw off the challenge of some of the best riders around the world to win the International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley in Hong Kong.
Ho, best known for his association with local superstar Golden Sixty, who will be back in action at the weekend attempting to win the Hong Kong Mile for a third time, needed victory in the last leg on Tomodachi Kokoroe to seal the title having finished third in the first two contests.
The likes of Ryan Moore, Tom Marquand, Hollie Doyle and Zac Purton were also in action, but Ho sealed victory with a half-length success aboard David Hayes’ charge.
“Of course I’m very happy, I didn’t know about the score so it’s great,” said Ho.
“I’m pleased to have a winner. When the horse changed legs today, he came home very well.
“I was lucky to get some good draws today and of course it is a privilege to join all the top jockeys here, I enjoy racing against them.
“It’s good to have a home-grown jockey win it to inspire more upcoming jockeys.”
Ho took the title with 20 points, with Purton second on 18 and Rachel King, once racing secretary for Clive Cox in the UK and now a multiple Group One-winning jockey in Australia, third on 16.
King won the first leg on Oversubscribed and said: “I had to pinch myself halfway up the straight as the horse just travelled into it and if anything, I thought I might have got there a little bit too soon.
“He was a beautiful ride, he showed me around the track and it was a perfect start.”
Moore, who won the second leg on M Unicorn, said: “It’s always a real pleasure to be asked to ride here, I love to ride at Happy Valley, it’s a fantastic week. It’s great to have a winner but I appreciate being here.”
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