There might not be many Australian links to Royal Ascot this year, but there is a notable one in the race that kicks off the famous five-day meeting.
The Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) has produced the likes of astonishing winners such as Frankel (2012) and Baaed (2022) and while Tuesday’s edition may not boast such a champion, it is a crucial test for the mostly Australian-owned Docklands.
To be ridden by Hayley Turner, the Harry Eustace-trained leaps into the very deep pool of a Queen Anne off a listed placing in France and so OTI Racing director Terry Henderson is realistic that a win would come as a surprise.
“He’s probably at about his right odds,” Henderson said of the $15 chance.
“He’s not been exposed to Group company before other than the listed race in France, which really didn’t go to plan at all.
“But when he ran at Ascot over 1600m first-up this season he was very impressive. I think he’s well placed to be competitive and he’s always competitive.
“He loves that track and that distance, so he’ll be thereabouts.”
Docklands finished 2nd first-up at Ascot (May 1, 2024)
If Docklands is thereabouts, he’ll be on his way to Australia this spring where Henderson is keen for Eustace, the brother of former Australian trainer Dave, to prepare the horse.
“He’ll come over in the quarantine group at Werribee and Harry would bring him over,” he said. “He used to bring those horses over (to Melbourne) for William Haggas and I think there is a little bit about Harry that would love to do it (travel) on his own.
“There looks to be a bright future for him irrespective of the (Queen Anne) result. But if it happened to be a G1 winner here, you start to ask yourself, ‘do you move a G1 horse away from a trainer like Harry Eustace when you’ve then got options that could take in a Breeders’ Cup.”
A Cox Plate could be a target for Docklands, but Henderson said there is one element of the horse that is still unknown.
“He’s yet to be exposed to 2000 metres and options differ as to whether he can,” Henderson said. “That is his next test. If he comes out of this race well, we’ll test him over that trip.”
The above is an excerpt from Andrew Eddy’s Racing.com article and can be read in full here.