Venetian Sun shines at Royal Ascot as Brighton’s Bloom lands another bargain

Alexis Mac Allister for £7m. Just £4m for Moisés Caicedo. And £250,000 for Venetian Sun, a Group One winner here on Friday in the Commonwealth Cup. Has anyone ever had an eye for a sporting bargain quite as sharp as Tony Bloom’s?

There were some huge sums changing hands for yearlings at Tattersalls’ Book 1 sale in October 2024. The football super-agent Kia Joorabchian alone signed for £25m-worth of bloodstock, while Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai’s Godolphin operation was close behind with a £23m spend. Bloom, meanwhile, picked up a daughter of the young stallion Starman for just 240,000 guineas (£252,000), and she is now a Group One winner at both two and three with more than £800,000 banked in prize money alone.

“It was a really tough race and not easy at the end,” the Brighton chair said after his horse had held off the late challenge of Spicy Marg, a 50-1 shot, by a head. “But what a horse Venetian Sun is. In the [1,000] Guineas, she just did not stay the distance, but we did not know until we tried. Karl [Burke, the winner’s trainer] has been confident going into this race and, although we have been confident, [it is so] difficult to win a Group One at Royal Ascot.

“She was tough enough and the great racehorses do win those difficult finishes when it is close. She is a dream horse to have, and we have got lots to look forward to with her. In terms of the ratings, this is the best horse I’ve ever had.”

Bloom’s involvement with racing was initially in the jumping sphere, with horses including Energumene, a brilliant winner of the Champion Chase at Cheltenham in 2022 and 2023.

He has invested more heavily in Flat racing in recent years, using a data-based approach to buying bloodstock similar to the one that has proved so successful in football, first at Brighton and more recently at teams including Hearts, Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise and Serie A side Como, who use Bloom’s analytics model in their recruitment.

Tony Bloom celebrates with his wife, Linda, after Venetian Sun won at Ascot. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA

“I get well advised on buying the horses,” Bloom said. “Patrick Veitch is our main adviser, and he looks at so many different aspects, and you also need a lot of luck. You can spend a lot of money on a horse and they flop, and cheaper ones can be Group One champions. We’re in the latter category and we’re over the moon.”

As a potential dam of future champions, Venetian Sun would be worth many times her earnings on the racing transfer market when she retires, but she is much more likely to join Bloom’s own band of broodmares.

But Venetian Sun should first have plenty more afternoons at the track, and she was clipped from 5-1 to 7-2 by William Hill for the July Cup – sprinting’s midsummer championship – at Newmarket next month.

“That is more relief than enjoyment,” Burke said. “It was probably unusual the way she did it [in the Sandy Lane Stakes] at Haydock last time. Everybody was talking about how good it was visually, which it was, but I think the [easier] ground had a lot to do with that.

“When Clifford [Lee, the winner’s jockey] rode her last year, even when he was winning Group races on her, he kept saying: ‘She is feeling the ground.’ I think that is probably the reason why she has not been as visually impressive [today], but she is still a Group One winner.”

On a card with three short-priced favourites in the first four races, Venetian Sun’s victory got the punters back on track after Aidan O’Brien’s Sun Goddess, at 10-11, was caught in the final strides by the fast-finishing Libertango, ridden by 20-year-old Billy Loughnane. They were on the front foot once again as another O’Brien-trained runner, Precise, became the fifth winning favourite in seven Group One events this week with victory in the Coronation Stakes.

Ryan Moore sent Precise, the 8-13 favourite, into the lead inside the final quarter and while Saffie Osborne mounted a strong challenge from off the pace with Touleen, the favourite found more in the closing stages to hold her at bay by a length and a half.

“She can do a lot of stuff,” O’Brien said. “She can stay at a mile, she can step up. She gets a little bit lazy, but when you do ask her, she really opens up. I think Ryan will probably say he was there a little bit earlier than he wanted, because he had to move early … he was very wide, he didn’t have any choice.”

The King and Queen, meanwhile, will need to wait until 2027 at least to celebrate a second Royal Ascot winner in their colours after Warrant Holder, their final runner at the meeting, finished a brave second in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes.

William Buick sent John and Thady Gosden’s four-year-old into the lead two furlongs from home, but James McDonald then launched a strong challenge on Opportunity against the far rail and Warrant Holder could find no more.

Japan’s Satono Reve can deliver Ascot dream

Satono Reve was just half a length away from giving Japan its first ever winner at Royal Ascot when second in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes 12 months ago, and has a fine chance to go one place better in the feature as the 2026 meeting draws to a close on Saturday.

Noriyuki Hori’s sprinter raced with a smaller group on the stands’ side last year as the winner, Lazzat, made all down the centre. Although Satono Reve was closing the gap throughout the final quarter-mile, the well-ridden Lazzat found enough when it mattered.

The seven-year-old has had near-identical preparation for this year’s race, including a second-place finish behind one of the all-time sprinting greats, Ka Ying Rising, at Sha Tin, Hong Kong in April.

Satono Reve (right) is pipped by Lazzat in last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. Photograph: John Walton/PA

Ryan Moore replaces João Moreira aboard Satono Reve on Saturday, and though Joliestar, one of the biggest names on the Australian sprinting scene, promises to be a stern opponent, she is drawn in single figures, while Moore will be able to point Satono Reve (3.40) directly down the “golden highway” from stall 18 of 19.

Royal Ascot 2.30 Carry The Flag is an obvious favourite having finished second behind Tuesday’s Coventry Stakes winner, Great Barrier Reef, last time, but he is dropping back in trip and Force Noir, an impressive winner at Naas last time, is interesting at around 12-1 to outspeed the market leader from stall 19.

Royal Ascot 3.05 The time of Kalpana’s win in the Aston Park Stakes on her seasonal debut suggests she has matured and improved further over the winter. She will take plenty of beating here on the way to a probable crack at the King George in late July.

Royal Ascot 4.20 The Prettiest Star posted a new career-best when fourth in the 1,000 Guineas last month and this drop in grade and trip should see her return to the winner’s enclosure.

Royal Ascot 5.00 James Owen has swiftly emerged as one of the best dual-purpose trainers in the game. His fast-improving sprinter Far Above Dream is attractively priced at around 18-1 to follow up a comfortable success at Newbury in May off a 4lb higher mark.

Royal Ascot 5.35 Lost Boys and Sahara King were separated by just a head when first and second respectively in the London Gold Cup at Newbury, before both being sold to run for the Wathnan Racing operation. James Doyle, their No 1 rider, is aboard the latter and first-time cheekpieces could eke out sufficient improvement to see him turn the tables.

Royal Ascot 6.10 Willie Mullins is looking for his fourth success in the last six runnings of the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the traditional finale to the meeting. Le Destrier, with William Buick booked to ride, looks the pick of his three runners this year.