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The newest G1 of the carnival is the Commonwealth Cup run at Royal Ascot on Friday.
Muhaarar was a great first winner in 2015. Can the 2019 Commonwealth Cup (1207m) at Royal Ascot on Friday go onto bigger things?
2019 COMMONWEALTH CUP - RACE HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
The Commonwealth Cup is a Group 1 race run under Set Weights conditions for three year olds at Royal Ascot conducted by the Ascot Racecourse.
The Commonwealth Cup is run over the straight six furlongs. It was first run in 2015 and was won by Muhaarar.
Royal Ascot announced at the end of 2014 that an eighth Group One race will be conducted at the Royal meeting from 2015.
To be known as the Commonwealth Cup, it is open to three-year-old colts, geldings and fillies.
The Wolferton Stakes was moved from Friday to Saturday with the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap transferred the other way, to ensure a competitive handicap was run on each day of Royal Ascot.
Designed to attract young horses from all over the world, the Commonwealth Cup was able to get not just horses from the British Isles but also on the continent and from America.
It was hoped from a longer view to get interest from Australian horses albeit they would be two-year-olds in Australian time and may have competed in the Blue Diamond and/or Golden Slipper.
The event’s appeal was helped by the outstanding first winner of the race as Muhaarar bolted in by four lengths. He would go onto win the July Cup, Prix Maurice De Gheest and British Champions Sprint against the open age horses before retirement was announced.
2016 saw Quiet Reflection come off a dominant win at Haydock to surge over the top and win with a length to spare.
In 2017 we saw an outstanding group of three year old sprinters as Caravaggio ran down Harry Angel and Blue Point in a strong edition. Caravaggio was supposed to travel to Sydney for the first running of The Everest but he had some flat runs later.
Sheikh Hamdan’s colours were to the fore again as Eqtidaar was wayward but still did enough to win his second race.
The 2019 Commonwealth Cup is worth £500,000.
The winners of the Commonwealth Cup are Muhaarar (2015), Quiet Reflection (2016), Caravaggio (2017) and Eqtidaar.
The 2018 Commonwealth Cup was won by Eqtidaar from Sands Of Mali and Emblazoned.