Europe
Andrew Balding celebrates first King George win
By Emma Berry, TDN Europe
It was a day that rippled with history, from the banners strung around the course bearing the names of King George greats to the stable which provided this year's winner. It has been 55 years since Mill Reef won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes – and even longer since Supreme Court won the inaugural running for former Kingsclere trainer Even Williams in 1951. Poignantly, in a year which began with the passing of Mill Reef's trainer Ian Balding, Kalpana (City Of Man) has brought Kingsclere full circle to deliver a first victory in the race for her trainer, Ian's son, Andrew.
Kalpana won by 1.5 lengths from last year’s victor Calandagan (Gleneagles). The 3-year-old colt Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel) was third.
It was a red-letter day for Balding, from the burgeoning promise of the G3 Princess Margaret Japan Cup Stakes winner Moonrise to Item's return to the winner's circle after a spicy-looking G2 Sky Bet York Stakes. But this was the one that mattered, in the race billed as one for the ages, with Kalpana facing not only her conqueror of last year but also Japan's best horse along with a healthy smattering of British and Irish Classic winners.
Juddmonte's roster of trainers around the world runs to 16 names, with Balding one of the newest additions to that list, having received his first horse from the revered owner-breeder operation in 2022. By May of 2023 he had trained them a Classic winner, Chaldean, who has now joined his sire Frankel in the stallion yard at Banstead Manor Stud. Kalpana, the homebred daughter of Study Of Man, has now won a Group 1 in each of the last three seasons, all at Ascot, while the exciting Blue Bolt (Blue Point) has also added to the laurels this year in the Falmouth Stakes.
“He's trained a Group 1 winner every season since he's joined the roster,” said Juddmonte's racing manager Barry Mahon of Balding's flying start for the team. On Saturday alone, the trainer boosted his prizemoney tally by a shade over £1.3 million (AU$2.5 million), the majority of that coming from Kalpana's share of the King George pot to increases his lead as the top British-based trainer this year. Only Aidan O'Brien is ahead of Balding in the trainers' championship.
“The owners recognised his (Andrew Balding) talents when they decided to send him some horses and it's not a big roster so they don't take those decisions lightly.” - Barry Mahon
“The owners recognised his talents when they decided to send him some horses and it's not a big roster so they don't take those decisions lightly,” Mahon added. “So it's great for him. He has an amazing establishment with a lot of history. To spend a morning (at Kingsclere) up on the Downs, there's something really special about it, and the team there are second to none – the travelling lads, the assistant trainers, the riders, and Anna Lisa is a big part of it too.”
Juddmonte of course has plenty of history of its own when it comes to the King George. From the mighty Dancing Brave 40 years ago through a record-setting three wins for the brilliant mare Enable, Kalpana now joins an illustrious cast of winners of this high summer showpiece. Like Enable, she could easily have been retired as a Group 1 winner at the end of her 3-year-old season. Job done. Thankfully, however, Prince Khalid Abdullah's sons are every bit as sporting as their empire-founding father.
Barry Mahon | Image courtesy of Juddmonte
Mahon continued, “The owners enjoy racing, they really do enjoy racing, and it's so hard to replace these fillies when you retire them, as we've seen with Bluestocking. I think we're a little bit old-fashioned here, in that we can push horses off to stud very quick, whereas you see the Japanese and the Australians, it's common practice to race them on at five and six, so it's great that the owners recognise that and kept her in training.
“Andrew said all year to me that he thinks she's better this year than ever, and I think that's just proof that he was right.”
Much was made of the rematch at Ascot between Calandagan and Masquerade Ball after their scintillating Japan Cup tussle, but Masquerade Ball, edgy in the preliminaries and dropped out early on alongside his great foe, never really got involved, while Calandagan's valiant late surge wasn't sufficient to reel in Kalpana in the way he did last year.
Calandagan | Image courtesy of Coolmore
“We came in with no pressure on us,” Mahon said. “We knew she was in a great place, Andrew said she was training unbelievably well, so we came in under the radar, and we just said to Colin going out, 'Have fun, ride her as you find her, and hope for a good result.' That's what he's done, and she came alive on the day.”
Pedigree: Kalpana's dam is the Listed winner Zero Gravity (Dansili), a full sister to the Grand Prix de Paris hero Zambezi Sun and the Listed-placed Shared Account, whose trio of Stakes winners include the Prix de Lieurey and Prix Imprudence winner Better Together (Oasis Dream) and the Athenia Stakes and Prix des Reservoirs winner Pocket Square (Night Of Thunder).
Also a half to the Prix Guillaume d'Ornano winner Kalabar (Kahyasi), she hails from the family of the July Cup and Prix de l'Abbaye hero Continent (Lake Coniston). She has the useful winning 3-year-old filly Seet (Too Darn Hot) and a yearling filly by Chaldean.
America
Counting Stars wins American Oaks
By Steve Sherack, TDN
West Point Thoroughbred's Counting Stars (Honor A. P.) left little doubt who the best 3-year-old filly in the country is with a second straight spectacular performance at the top level in Saturday's G1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.
Sent to the front by Irad Ortiz, Jr. from her rail draw, the even-money favourite led through fractions of 0:23.86 and 0:47.60. The G1 Kentucky Oaks heroine Always a Runner (Gun Runner), a well-beaten second behind Counting Stars in the G1 DraftKings Acorn Stakes at Saratoga on June 5, shot through an inviting opening at the fence beneath Jose Ortiz at the top of the stretch and the “Showdown at the Spa” was set.
Racing shoulder to shoulder and exchanging bumps as they straightened for home, Counting Stars proved best once again in this highly anticipated rubber match and powered home to win going away by 4.25 widening lengths over Always a Runner.
“She's a special horse,” said winning Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who also saddled the longshot third-place finisher Measure (Essential Quality). “She is. It was great for racing to see the two of them go at it. We said all along this week that this was round three, the rubber match. So, that's what happened. Luckily, we ended up on the right side of it.”
“She (Counting Stars) has grown up, and she just does everything. I'm very lucky because I get to compare her to another one that I have who is not bad. She reminds me a lot of (last year's champion 3-year-old filly) Nitrogen.” - Mark Casse
“She has grown up, and she just does everything. I'm very lucky because I get to compare her to another one that I have who is not bad. She reminds me a lot of (last year's champion 3-year-old filly) Nitrogen. She does things that normal horses don't do.”
Casse added that Counting Stars will target the G1 Alabama Stakes on August 22 at Saratoga.
Mark Casse | Image courtesy of Keeneland
Pedigree: Counting Stars, a US$13,000 (AU$18,600) Keeneland September yearling turned US$150,000 (AU$215,000) OBS breezer, is one of two Graded winners for Honor A. P. She became the young sire's first Grade 1 winner in the Acorn.
Counting Stars is the first foal from the two-time winner Paynterbynumbers (Paynter), who brought US$160,000 (AU$229,000) from Ken Copenhaver at the 2026 Fasig-Tipton February Digital Sale. Counting Stars's fourth dam Golden Reef (Mr. Prospector) won the 1989 G2 Schuylerville Stakes and was also second in that term's G1 Spinaway Stakes, both at Saratoga.
G1 Bing Crosby goes to outsider
The GI Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar, a 'Win and You're In' for the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint, didn't lack for drama Saturday as 4-year-old gelding Listenupshance (Shancelot) outnosed Maximum Bourbon (Maximum Security) to score the first black-type win of his career.
The race was marred when heavy favourite Cornucopian (Into Mischief) went wrong and was pulled up at the top of the stretch and eased. The Bob Baffert-trained Cornucopian, a last-out winner of the G3 Aristides Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 30, was vanned off and is under further evaluation by a team of veterinarians.
Listenupshance's two previous Graded tries resulted in a second in the G3 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita in March and a fantastic last-out third behind Book'em Danno (Bucchero) and Bentornato (Valiant Minister) in the G3 True North Stakes at Saratoga on June 6.
“(Jockey) Emisael (Jaramillo) did such a great job of getting a clean break,” winning trainer Doug O'Neill said. “He was laying in a perfect spot but then I saw 0:21 and change and I thought maybe they're both in trouble. I just knew this horse was a warrior. I knew if he was anywhere near at the head of the lane he'd be near at the wire. I'm just over the moon.”
Pedigree: G2 Amsterdam Stakes winner and G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up Shancelot, retired to Buck Pond Farm for the 2021 season and last reported to be standing at that same location, gets a Grade 1 winner for his first black-type winner. The Shanghai Bobby stallion, who has three small crops at the races, has just 19 reported 2-year-olds this year.
Bred by Al and Michelle Crawford Racing, Listenupshance is out of a half-sister to 2017 G1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes winner La Coronel (Colonel John).
