Opera Ballo
Opera Ballo ran a big race in the Queen Anne Stakes, the curtain-raiser at Royal Ascot on Tuesday. Sweating and on is toes in the preliminaries, he broke smartly and was quickly into the lead. He led at a good pace, he was fastest through each of the first two furlongs, he had two lengths in hand over his stable companion First Conquest at half-way, and First Conquest was about three lengths clear of the main body of the field. Also, the winner and the second, Ten Bob Tony and More Thunder, were last and third last at that point. First Conquest faded to finish last, so it was to Opera Ballo's credit that he was able to keep on as well as he did to finish third. He was still on the bridle on the run to the two-furlong marker, and he only relinquished the lead deep inside the final furlong, going down by a total of three parts of a length in the end, with a small break between the first three home and the rest.
It was a big performance by Charlie Appleby's horse. Winner of the Group 1 Jebel Hatta over nine furlongs at Meydan in January, he was impressive in winning the Bet365 Mile at Sandown in April on his first run back in Britain after that. This was another step forward from that, leading in a race that was run at a strong pace and in which the hold-up horses came to the fore. He likes to go forward in his races, so he will be of particular interest at a track at which early pace is rewarded more than it is generally at Ascot. Newmarket's Rowley Mile is one of those tracks, but he has under-performed on each of the occasions on which he has raced on the Rowley Mile, which is not ideal. Newmarket's July Course is another track at which pace is rewarded and, in contrast to the Rowley Mile, he was impressive in winning a listed race at the July meeting last year on his only run to date at the track. He will always be of interest at Sandown, a track at which he is two for two - and he does hold an entry in the Eclipse, which would obviously require him to step up in distance - and he will be of obvious interest if he takes up his engagement in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood at the end of July.
Ascot, 16th June 2026
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