Ascot results today belonged to Venetian Sun, who won the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot on Friday by a head. The £252,000 buy for Tony Bloom turned a tight finish into a second Group One victory, with the filly’s earnings now above £800,000 in prize money alone.
Tony Bloom’s Royal Ascot buy
Bloom bought Venetan Sun at Tattersalls’ Book 1 sale in October 2024 for 240,000 guineas, and he called her a dream horse to have. He also said: “In terms of the ratings, this is the best horse I’ve ever had.”
The margin mattered here because Spicy Marg never gave the race away. Venetian Sun had to hold her off at the line, and Bloom described the effort as: “It was a really tough race and not easy at the end” and “But what a horse Venetian Sun is.”
Karl Burke and Haydock
Karl Burke said: “That is more relief than enjoyment” after the race, which fits the shape of this one better than a runaway win. He had already pointed out that Venetan Sun did not stay the distance in the Guineas and that her Sandy Lane Stakes run at Haydock looked better partly because the ground helped her.
He added: “It was probably unusual the way she did it [in the Sandy Lane Stakes] at Haydock last time.” Burke also said: “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.” Clifford Lee had said last year: “She is feeling the ground.”
Ryan Moore, Precise and July Cup
The rest of the card underlined the level Venetan Sun was operating at. Ryan Moore steered Precise to Coronation Stakes victory, leaving Venetian Sun in a Group One race won on the same afternoon by another high-class runner.
William Hill cut Venetan Sun from 5-1 to 7-2 for the July Cup at Newmarket next month. The price move shows how quickly a narrow Royal Ascot win can change the market, but the bigger read is more practical: she has already won at two and three, and the next step is whether she can carry that form into the July Cup at a different trip and venue.
