THIRTEEN of the races over the five days of Royal Ascot are not stakes races, though winning them is no less desirable, and valuable. Given that there is just one listed race at the meeting, there may be a case for some of the following to be upgraded. Here is a summary of those winners.

Willie Mullins saddled hurdle winner Belloccio (2018 g. by Belardo (Lope De Vega)) to land the 14-furlong Copper Horse Handicap. A stakes winner at two in France and a listed winner at four in England, Belloccio was bought by Highflyer Bloodstock last year at Arqana for €60,000, and has won both his starts for Mullins. Bred in France by Vasby Distribution, and sold at Arqana for €62,000 as a yearling, he is a half-brother to five-time hurdle winner Poker Master (Sepoy). Their dam Three Cards (Mastercraftsman) is a half-sister to Group 2 winner and Group 1 Prix Royal Oak runner-up Bathyrhon (Monsun).

There were few more joyous scenes all week than those that followed the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes. The mile and a half contest was won by Crystal Black (2018 g. by Teofilo (Galileo)), and this was the gelding’s sixth victory. Five have been gained since the Moyglare Stud-bred was bought for 35,000gns as a four-year-old, and he has now amassed more than £210,000. Crystal Black is one of four winners from She’s Our Mark, a star performer when trained by Pat Flynn. Her eight victories included three Group 3s and three listed successes, and she placed 26 times, a number of which were Group 2s.

What a pedigree the Al Shaqab Racing homebred Doha (2020 f. by Sea The Stars (Cape Cross)) possesses. She gained her second win in the Kensington Palace Stakes, and her sire’s other winner during the week, Pledgeofallegiance, is also out of a mare by Motivator (Montjeu). Sea The Stars had three group-placed runners at Royal Ascot 2024, Space Legend (Group 2), Sweet William (Group 1) and Bellum Justom (Group 3). Doha is one of two winners from the first four foals out of Treve, and her nine victories included the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks, Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe twice, and Group 1 Prix Vermeille twice.

A single winner during the five-day meeting for his sire, English Oak (2020 g. by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj)) was bought with the aim of running for Wathnan Racing at Royal Ascot, and duly delivered in the Buckingham Palace Stakes over seven furlongs. Bred by Car Colston Hall Stud, this 200,000gns yearling is one of seven winners out of the stakes-placed Forest Crown (Royal Applause), and her two stakes winners are by Iffraaj (Zafonic). They are Group 3 winner Forest Of Dean, and the listed winner State Occasion. Forest Crown is also dam of two pattern-placed winners, Golden Crown (Siyouni) and Rionach (Sea The Stars).

Reigns supreme

Bred at Ballylinch Stud where his sire reigns supreme, Going The Distance (2021 g. by Lope De Vega (Shamardal)) won for the fourth time in five starts when taking the honours in the King George V Stakes. He is surely a stakes winner in waiting. Purchased for €160,000 by McCalmont Bloodstock at Arqana, Going The Distance is the first foal and winner for Colonia (Champs Elysees). That Grade 3 winner at Keeneland was bought as a filly out of training for $150,000 and is looking like value. This year Colonia welcomed her fourth produce, a full-sister to Going The Distance.

Hand Of God (2021 c. by Churchill (Galileo)) was bred by the Cumani’s Fittocks Stud, and sold as a yearling for 145,000gns to Roger Charlton. He won the 10 furlong Golden Gate Stakes, and this was his third win in five starts. In the year that Hand Of God was foaled, his dam Barter (Daylami) was culled for 50,000gns. She is now dam of six winners, the Group 3 heroine Haggle (Pivotal) being the best of that half-dozen. Last year, Hand Of God’s unraced half-sister Marketeer (Oasis Dream) produced the German listed-winning colt Merkur (Kingman).

Sold cheaply twice, for 18,000gns as a foal and 20,000gns as a yearling, Mickley (2021 g. by Soldier’s Call (Showcasing)) was bred in partnership by the Hyland’s Oghill House Stud. His three victories, including the Britannia Stakes, in five starts have been worth some £75,000, and there is more to come from this three-year-old. He is a second winner for the placed Parle Moi (Giant’s Causeway) who was sold the year after Mickley was born for only €8,500. Parle Moi’s dam Pas De Response (Danzig) was the best juvenile filly in 1996 after winning the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes, Mickley is from the first crop of his sire.

Havana Grey

Pilgrim (2021 g. by Havana Grey (Havana Gold)) won the five-furlong Palace of Holyrood House Stakes, a third success for this £65,000 Goffs UK Premier Sale yearling. Bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud who stand Havana Grey, Pilgrim is one of three winners from Hot Secret (Sakhee’s Secret) who won at two. Her half-brother Temple Meads (Avonbridge) won the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes, while their half-sister bred El Caballo (Havana Gold), successful in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes. Havana Grey’s Group 2 July Stakes winner Jasour was third to Inisherin in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.

The Burns family at Lodge Park Stud are familiar with big race wins, and they are responsible for Pledgeofallegiance (2020 g. by Sea The Stars (Cape Cross)), one of two winners during the five days for the Gilltown stallion. This was a fifth win for Pledgeofallegiance when he landed the Ascot Stakes, and he is one of three winners from the stakes winner Vow (Motivator). She cost Lodge Park Stud 600,000gns, and her Royal Ascot-winning son sold as a yearling for 450,000gns to Oliver St Lawrence. Vow is a half-sister to the Australian Group 1 winner Beaten Up (Beat Hollow).

Third in the Group 3 Albany Stakes last year, Soprano (2021 f. by Starspangledbanner) was bred in Ireland by Empire Bloodstock and sold as a foal at Goffs through Noralla Stud Farm for €45,000. She was resold for 100,000gns by Stauffenberg Bloodstock to Highclere Agency and took her earnings to more that £110,000 with victory in the Sandringham Stakes.

All her five placed efforts have been in group or listed races. Soprano is the first foal of the unraced Lealas Daughter (Excelebration), a half-sister to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Obviously (Choisir).

Unequal Love

A homebred for Cheveley Park Stud, stakes winner Unequal Love (2020 f. by Dutch art (Medicean)) took her tally of victories to six in 10 starts when she won the six-furlong Wokingham Stakes. By the sire of Group 1 winners Starman, Mabs Cross, Garswood and Slade Power, Unequal Love is one of three winners from the stakes-placed Heavenly Dawn (Pivotal). The latter mare is a full-sister to dual Grade 1 winner Megahertz (Pivotal) who sold in 2007 for $2.1 million.

Bred and raced by the Niarchos family’s Flaxman Stables, Uxmal (2019 g. by Galileo (Sadler’s Wells)), won the concluding Queen Alexandra Stakes, a third career win for this stakes-placed gelding. He joined Kyprios and Illinois when becoming a third winner at the meeting for Galileo. Uxmal is a son of the Group 3 winner Only Mine (Pour Moi) who sold to Jeremy Brummitt at Goffs in November for €180,000. This is the family of last year’s Group 1 Oaks winner Soul Sister (Frankel).

Wild Tiger (2019 g. by Frankel (Galileo)) is a Godolphin homebred, and he won for the fourth time in six starts when justifying favouritism in the highly-competitive Royal Hunt Cup. One of two winners at the meeting for his sire, alongside Bedtime Story, this half-brother to the Group 2 winner and Group 1 Dubai World Cup runner-up Algiers (Shamardal) is a son of German champion filly Antara (Platini) who was also placed in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes. Antara was purchased by Mark McStay’s Avenue Bloodstock for 45,000gns in 2022.