Outback Heat
Outback Heat did well to finish second in the Britannia Handicap at Royal Ascot on Thursday, coming from well back in the field in a race in which, unusually in a big-field handicap on the straight track at Royal Ascot, the hold-up racers were not advantaged.
Taken back early on from stall 18, towards the far side of the near-side group, and still 29th of the 30 runners passing the three-furlong marker, he picked up well on the run to the two-furlong pole. He made his ground out towards the centre, on the far side of the near-side group as the two groups more or less merged, and he stayed on well all the way to the line to take second place. He just failed by three parts of a length to catch the talented and progressive Moonfall, who had been ridden further forward. He was fastest of the 30 runners through the third last and second last furlongs, and he was second fastest through the final furlong.
It was a big run by Harry Eustace's horse in just his fourth ever race. He looked good in winning a handicap over the Britannia course and distance in early May, a race that Eustace also won with Docklands in 2023 before taking him back to the Royal meeting to win the Britannia off a 14lb higher mark. Outback Heat went really close off a 6lb higher mark. A 5lb hike takes him up to a mark of 96, 11lb higher than the mark off which he won in May, but he is progressive enough to remain of interest off that mark. Docklands, of course, finished second in the Queen Anne in 2024 and won it in 2025 and, while that may be a little aspirational for Outback Heat, he remains a progressive and talented and lightly-raced individual who will be of interest wherever he goes next and who will always be of particular interest at Ascot.
Ascot, 18th June 2026
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