Who will Joliestar face at Royal Ascot on Saturday?

Cover image courtesy of Royal Ascot

Australia only sends its best to Royal Ascot, and Cambridge Stud’s Joliestar (Zoustar) fits the bill. The five-time Group 1 winner will step out on Ascot’s hallowed turf in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on Saturday, but she faces no easy task to claim her sixth top flight victory, with 22 opponents accepted to the field.

Table: The 2026 G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes field, as of Wednesday, June 17

The familiar faces

Several of the runners engaged for Saturday will already be familiar to Australian audiences. Brave when third in Tuesday’s G1 King Charles III Stakes behind Mission Central (Ire) (No Nay Never {USA}), Bjorn Baker’s Overpass (Vancouver) has accepted for Saturday’s contest. The winner of over $12.5 million was beaten just a length in the contest.

Baker has promised to be back to the prestigious racing carnival, but is Saturday too soon for that return?

Drawing the number eight saddle cloth is Lake Forest (GB) (No Nay Never {USA}), who visited the Sydney spring carnival for a hit and run mission in the $10 million Golden Eagle in 2024. On that occasion, he swept home late to defeat fellow European raider Lazzat (Fr) (Territories {Ire}) by half a length, with Tom Kitten (Harry Angel {Ire}) in third.

Back last spring, he had two unplaced runs over the mile at Flemington and Randwick, after which point he was gelded. The William Haggas trainee resumed at Haydock in May and immediately bounced back into form, winning the Listed Spring Trophy Stakes by a cool five and a half lengths.

An old foe of Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) will carry the number 16 saddlecloth; Noriyuki Hori’s 7-year-old entire Satono Reve (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) will be making his second trip to Royal Ascot, having run second to Lazzat in this event last year.

In four visits to Hong Kong, Satono Reve has run into Ka Ying Rising on all four occasions and has placed three times. He clashed with David Hayes’s superstar in the G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize this past April, arriving fresh off a second victory in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen, but couldn’t get any closer than four and a quarter lengths.

And while he never raced on our tracks, the name of Starlust (GB) (Zoustar) is recognisable to many, given he stood for the 2025 season in the Hunter Valley before returning to training with Ralph Beckett earlier this year. He gives his Widden Stud-based sire Zoustar a second shot at clinching a Group 1 at Royal Ascot this year.

The ownership of the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner cited poor fertility as reasons to return him to the track, with the number of positive pregnancies reported to be in the 70s. They have not written off a return to the covering shed in the future for the entire.

The mares that measure up

Joliestar is one of five mares engaged in the race, and one of two to be last start winners. Wathnan Racing-owned Flora Of Bermuda (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is the other, fresh off taking out the Listed Ellen Chaloner Stakes at Newmarket last start. The Andrew Balding-trained 5-year-old was third in this race last year, days after being privately purchased by the Emir of Qatar’s racing outfit, and will run with saddle cloth 19.

Saddle cloth 21 will be borne by Rosy Affair (GB), whose sire Havana Grey (GB) boasts Flora Of Bermuda’s sire as his damsire. Trained by George Boughey, the 5-year-old made her black-type breakthrough last August at Pontefract at Listed level and has since won twice more in stakes grade, including the G3 Prix de Meautry. She was hot on Overpass’s heels on Tuesday when running fourth.

One of the field’s greenest runners is next; 4-year-old Sayidah Dariyan (Ire) (Dariyan {Fr}) was third in her last outing behind Flora Of Bermuda and has only one win to her name - but it is a stakes win, being last July’s G3 Summer Stakes. She is one of the cheapest purchases in the field, being a £35,000 (AU$66,500) Goffs yearling purchase for her trainer, Richard Hughes.

She was fourth in the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot the month before, behind the final mare in the field - Time For Sandals (Ire) (Sands Of Mali {Fr}). The latter comes from a particularly rich family, her dam being a winning half-sister to blue hen Pharmacist (Ire) (Machiavellian {USA}) whose four stakes winners include G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf-winning sire Red Rocks (Ire).

Trained by Dave Eustace’s brother Harry Eustace, Time For Sandals finished down the field in Tuesday’s race behind Overpass and Asfoora (Flying Artie), but perhaps she is saving her best for Saturday.

A flock of Angels

Dark Angel (Ire), whose influence is being felt in Australia thanks to his son Harry Angel (Ire), is the most represented sire in the 23-strong field, with four of his offspring making the cut. Joining Flora Of Bermuda will be Almeraq (GB), Khaadem (Ire) - also the eldest horse in the field at 10 - and Night Raider (Ire).

The latter is one of three acceptors for Wathnan Racing, and finished midfield behind Mission Central on Tuesday. Before that, he had won back to back Group races at Newmarket and Haydock, returning to form for Karl Burke, having been gelded at the end of last year. His last race as an entire had seen him finish at the back of the field in Asfoora’s G1 Prix de l'Abbaye victory.

Khaadem, racing in the same pink and green as Starlust, is chasing an 11th career win and has extensively travelled across the world in his career to date. He has been a regular visitor to Meydan since 2021, and has raced in France, Hong Kong, and the States. Last year, he won the G2 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland before running third to Shisospicy (USA) (Mitole {USA}) in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.

Wearing the number six saddle cloth on Saturday, Khaadem holds an unusual distinction above the rest of the field, and it’s not just his age. He has previously won the Jubilee twice, triumphing in 2023 and 2024.

Drawing the number one spot is Almeraq, a winner in three of his starts and second in two others, with his only placing outside the top two being a fall at York last year. One of William Haggas’s two runners in the field and owned by Shadwell, the 4-year-old entire hails from the close family of Dream Ahead (Ire) and his dam is a half-sister to Now Or Never - Now Or Later (Aust.) (Ire) (Bushrange {Ire}), who won the G2 Blazer Stakes for Robert Smerdon in the Qatar Bloodstock colours.

The international campaigners

Three runners arrive at Royal Ascot on Saturday having last raced in the Middle East, two of whom ran in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint on the Dubai World Cup raceday. Haruki Sugiyama’s Lugal (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) was the better performer, finishing second by a neck to Native Approach (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) and defeating Lazzat in the process.

The 6-year-old entire’s career pinnacle to date was winning the G1 Sprinters Stakes in Nakayama in 2024. Twice he has visited Sha Tin and run afoul of the indomitable Ka Ying Rising.

Great Wish (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) finished seventh in the same event, but had won a Listed race in January at Meydan beforehand. Trained by Danish champion trainer Bent Olsen, he carries additional intrigue in his first Royal Ascot attendance by being the only runner in the event from Denmark.

Andrew Balding’s Marvelman (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who will carry the number 10 saddle cloth, shipped out of the Middle East before the Dubai World Cup. He had his single run in the region in Riyadh’s G2 1351 Turf Sprint, running into Lazzat and fellow Jubilee hopeful Comanche Brave (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}).

Comanche Brave fared a little better, finishing third in the event before continuing his international campaign in Sha Tin where he was fifth behind the ever-present Ka Ying Rising. His trainer Donnacha O'Brien gave the colt a run at the Curragh last month, where he dutifully added the G2 Greenlands Stakes to his record, which was also his first stakes victory. The 4-year-old hails from the family of Fiorente (Ire), but is out of a Group 2-winning sprinter who also ran second in the G1 Irish One Thousand Guineas.

In the same Curragh race was Powerful Glory (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}), who finished seventh for Richard and Peter Fahey. The lightly raced 4-year-old won the G1 British Champions Sprint Stakes last October at just his second start after a wind operation in the June of last year.

Only two other runners came through a race not on British shores to arrive at Royal Ascot; Stolen Kiss (Fr) (Chachnak {Fr}) and Sajir (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) both ran at Chantilly at opposite ends of May, and both were winners of their respective events. Patrice Cottier prepared Louis Baudron’s homebred Stolen Kiss to win his second Listed event in a row on May 4, which justified a first trip across the English Channel, while André Fabre-trained Sajir makes his second visit to England after winning the G3 Prix Du Gros-Chene on May 31.

The Minster contingent

The remaining four horses in the field all came through the G2 Minster Stakes, run at York on May 13. None were the winner, but Kind Of Blue (GB) (Blue Point {Ire}), who also runs for Wathnan Racing, was second when beaten just a length. Trained by James Fanshawe, he won the 2024 G1 British Champions Sprint Stakes and he hasn’t been in the winning circle since, but he has been close on a number of occasions.

The same race was won by two close relations; Champions Sprint victors The Tin Man (GB) (Equiano {Fr}) and Deacon Blues (GB) (Compton Place {GB}), both also Champion Older Sprinters, also won for Fanshawe.

A further three quarters of a length back in third was Regional (GB) (Territories {Ire}), the only gelding in Saturday’s race other than Khaadem. Trained by Edward Bethell, he has been to Royal Ascot twice for gallant placings. His latest win came in the 2023 G1 Sprint Cup Stakes at Haydock.

The other Blue Point (Ire) in the Jubilee ran fifth at York; Richard Hannon’s Aramram (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) has six wins to his name, including the Listed Cammidge Trophy, and will carry saddle cloth number two. On his heels was sixth-placed Jasour (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) for Clive Cox, who also ran sixth in the Jubilee last year. He will carry saddle cloth number five.

She’s taken all before her

There is no doubt in the mind of James McDonald that Joliestar can rise to the occasion. It is his firm belief, as he told At The Races earlier in the week, that she is spot on to deliver on Saturday.

“She’s outstanding,” he said. “She’s at the peak of her powers as a 5-year-old mare. She’s taken it all before her in Australia and won the main races you need to win to warrant going over there (to Royal Ascot).

“She’s got a great demeanour, I wouldn’t have thought the travel would have done her any harm.”

While he hesitated to put her in the same class as Australia’s greatest raider Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), McDonald believed in the mare’s ability to win one of the most prestigious races in the European calendar. After all, she has earned the right to be there.

“Six furlongs will suit her well, and she’ll be there to run her best,” he said.