Royal Ascot 2025: Australian Asfoora goes for title defense; Satono Reve flies flag for Japan

In addition to the U.S shippers, Royal Ascot has lured Australian mare Asfoora for a title defense in Tuesday’s King Charles III (G1), and Japan seeks a breakthrough with Satono Reve in Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee (G1). Australia has an interest in that sprint as well, with the exported Storm Boy set to make his second start for Aidan O’Brien.

Asfoora – Tuesday’s King Charles III (G1)

The sixth Australian-based sprinter to prevail in the five-furlong dash formerly known as the King’s Stand, Asfoora didn’t come with as big of a home reputation as some of her predecessors. And the stiff straightaway was another potential concern. But the Henry Dwyer mare refuted every critique when sweeping to a one-length victory.

Although Asfoora answered last year’s questions, she faces a new set of questions in her bid to become the first Australian to repeat here. Another year older, she will celebrate her actual seventh birthday in August. It’s a challenge to bring a mare of her age back to peak form, let alone while changing hemispheres.

The bigger caveat is that Asfoora has had a different preparation with less time to acclimate to European conditions. Unlike a year ago, when she arrived early and turned in a useful British prep, she wasn’t able to work out the logistics to arrive as far ahead of Royal Ascot. 

Instead, Asfoora raced twice in Australia in April. After a very encouraging comeback score in the R.N. Irwin (G3) at Morphettville, she wheeled back two weeks later at the same venue and checked in seventh in the Robert Sangster (G1). 

Asfoora should benefit from cutting back in trip, and she’ll add blinkers to sharpen her up. But Dwyer has freely said that the timetable this year points to her improving off Royal Ascot. If she can reclaim her summit from last summer, it might well be at Glorious Goodwood or York. 

Satono Reve and Storm Boy – Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee (G1)

For all of its success on the world stage in recent years, Japan has yet to solve the puzzle of Royal Ascot. Ten Japanese runners have tried, including two in past editions of this race, and none could crack the trifecta. 

Perhaps Satono Reve, a son of the great Japanese sprinter Lord Kanaloa, can achieve the feat. He is the first sent over by trainer Noriyuki Hori, who has won Group 1s as far afield as Australia. Hori’s international ambition extended to this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1), where Luxor Cafe finished 12th in the slop.

If the favorable forecast holds at Ascot, Satono Reve should not have any elements to battle. The six-year-old missed time due to injury earlier in his career, but he progressed last year in the manner of a top-class animal. Satono Reve fulfilled his promise by capturing Japan’s marquee sprint of the spring, the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1) at Chukyo.

Satono Reve’s main talking point for Royal Ascot, though, is his Hong Kong form with the world’s highest-rated sprinter, Ka Ying Rising. Placed in both of his trips to Sha Tin, Satono Reve got closer when third to Ka Ying Rising in last December’s Hong Kong Sprint (G1) than he did when runner-up in the April 27 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (G1). Yet last time, Satono Reve fended off Helios Express, who had edged him for second in their previous meeting. That is emblematic of Satono Reve’s continued improvement.

Judging by how Satono Reve stays on in his sprints around a turn, he’s eligible to cope well with the Ascot straightaway. He actually won his career debut over a metric mile in 2022, but hasn’t gone that far since. If he does transfer his form to the new environment, he’s a prime threat. Satono Reve is showing the right signals in his training at Newmarket.

The wild card is Storm Boy, who flopped in his debut for O’Brien in the Greenlands (G2) at the Curragh. But the Justify colt was not anywhere near cranked for that prep, and he traveled conspicuously well for some way until his lack of fitness told. Ryan Moore took care of him thereafter, especially once he was forced to check behind a rival.

Storm Boy is sure to come on in leaps and bounds. O’Brien has won this race twice before with Australian recruits, Starspangledbanner (2010) and Merchant Navy (2018), although they had a different profile from Storm Boy. Both were already Group 1 winners, with form down a straightaway, and later arrivals from Down Under. Starspangledbanner was a creditable fifth in his Ballydoyle debut, while Merchant Navy was forward enough to win the Greenlands en route to Royal Ascot.

In contrast, Storm Boy was once a boom juvenile who aims to prove that he has a big one in him. Favored in the Golden Slipper (G1) after winning his first four starts, he missed the break and wound up third. The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott pupil was beaten in his subsequent Group 1 attempts, but on rain-affected tracks. 

Storm Boy’s Australian finale came in The Everest (G1) last October, where he took charge before tiring late on the soft going at Randwick. His eighth-place effort looks better on the replay than it does on paper.

Good ground brought out the best in him in the past, and there’s a reasonable chance to think that better conditions can help him. The stiffer six furlongs down a straightaway is another question for Storm Boy, but he went down by only a half-length in the about seven-furlong Golden Rose (G1) last year, again arguably foiled by soft going. 

Storm Boy has future stallion appeal already, and he’d be a hotter commodity in both hemispheres if he can enhance his resume in Europe. The switch to O’Brien implies that connections believe he’s capable of writing his stud brochure.