Archive June 20, 2025

The 33-year-old outsider Cercene won the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in a thrilling finish.

The French-trained favorite Zarigana, the jockey who won, led the way with January in third place, but his mount rallied to win by half a length.

The trainers who have been training in Ireland since 1977, Joe Murphy, who has won the award, said, “This is 50 years of work, that’s what it is, of love and care, and it’s just a whole group of people together.”

“Heaven on Earth,” says the phrase.

Cercene failed to win the Irish 1, 000 Guineas, despite placing third overall.

“It’s unbelievable. She wanted to win, and she’s very tough. It’s magic to do this at Royal Ascot, jockey Carroll said.

Another surprise winner came on Friday in the top-level Group One match, where Shadow Of Light, who was favorite, could only finish fifth despite a 25-1 chance of winning the Commonwealth Cup.

The winner, who is known as “Flip Flop,” was ridden by Richard Kingscote from stall one for Harry Eustace, a seasoned trainer.

After winning the first Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday with Docklands, Eustace was celebrating a top-level Group One double.

The horses have arrived in excellent condition, according to Eustace, despite being the hardest place on earth.

Trainer Charlie Appleby said the good going going made him unsuitable for the youngster and that he was third in the 2, 000 Guineas last year.

The Albany Stakes saw the end of Aidan O’Brien’s dominance of this week’s junior races with the training of Venetian Sun, trained by Karl Burke.

Horses drawn high performed well on Thursday, but Clifford Lee’s 7-1 winner also advanced from stall one on Friday, defeating O’Brien’s favorite Signora, who is now ninth in ninth place.

The best two-year filly I’ve trained, Burke said, “I think she’s very special.”

Brighton and Hove Albion’s heir Tony Bloom owns a portion of Venetian Sun, hoping that she will compete in the 1,000 Guineas in the coming year.

Ryan Moore won the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes for the sixth time with Ethical Diamond, trained by Willie Mullins.

The 3-1 favorite finished fourth last year, but this time it was without a doubt.

Warren Fentiman, a young jockey for King Charles, rode for him in his biggest performance so far.

The 17-year-old finished 16th overall in the Sandringham Stakes aboard Purple Rainbow, which was trained by William Haggas for King and Queen Camilla’s owners.

This week, the Royal couple finished third behind the field.

The 22-1 chance Never Let Go, trained by Ed Walker, was the winner for Kieran Shoemark in the Sandringham.

Shoemark was claiming his second Royal Ascot crown, after losing his position to trainers John and Thady Gosden last month.

The King Edward VII Stakes winner was steered by Rossa Ryan, who trained Ralph Beckett, by 11-8 favorite Amiloc.

Two-time defending champion Katie Boulter’s run at the Nottingham Open was ended in a dramatic loss to American McCartney Kessler at the quarter-final stage.

Against the world number 42 Boulter found herself 4-2 up in the deciding set but lost 6-3 3-6 6-4 after two hours and nine minutes.

British number two Boulter had won the past two Nottingham Open titles and was on a 12-match winning run at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.

She played well in the first set but took just one of 11 break points, while 25-year-old Kessler converted two of her five.

In the second set Boulter wrestled back control, not conceding a single break point.

But in the decider, despite being two games away from the semi-finals, she lost four straight games to be defeated at Nottingham for the first time in three years.

Nolann Le Garrec and Antoine Hastoy will form a strong half-back partnership for the France second-string XV that takes on an England XV in Saturday’s non-capped match at Allianz Stadium.

Le Garrec, along with Maxime Lucu, has served as back-up to France’s first-choice scrum-half Antoine Dupont over the past couple of seasons, winning 10 caps at the age of 23.

Fly-half Hastoy started both last summer’s Tests against Argentina and was key to a late-season run of form that almost carried La Rochelle into the Top 14 play-offs.

The pair will play alongside each other at club level next season with Le Garrec moving to La Rochelle from Racing 92 this summer.

Elsewhere the experienced Gael Fickou partners 21-year-old emerging star Emilien Gailleton in the centres, while 35-year-old Leinster prop Rabah Slimani, who has not played for his country in almost six years, starts in the front row.

Theo Attissogbe, who scored three tries in France’s run to the Six Nations title, starts at full-back with the uncapped duo of Alivereti Duguivalu and Mael Moustin on the wing.

Tyler Duguid, who grew up in Canada but moved to France as a teenager, is named in the second row with Mickael Guillard, one of the breakout successes of France’s Six Nations, at number eight.

France head coach Fabien Galthie is without players from Toulouse, Bordeaux-Begles, Toulon and Bayonne as they contest the Top 14 semi-finals.

France’s frontline stars are usually rested for the country’s summer tours, however, the federation has struck an agreement with their clubs to release a small number of Test regulars for the three-match series against New Zealand in July.

France A: Attissogbe; Moustin, Gailleton, Fickou, Duguivalu; Hastoy, Le Garrec; Erdocio, Barlot, Slimani, Auradou, Duguid, Fishcher, Tixeront, Guillard.