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There are plenty of runners of interest to Aussie fans on Day 4 at Royal Ascot.
Australian interest in the Royal Ascot meeting is building towards the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on Saturday night, but there is plenty to keep them interested on Friday's penultimate day.
A day after a daughter of Sea Siren won the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes, sons of Coolmore Stud Stakes and Thousand Guineas winners will go around, along with a brother to a grey who was once the most exciting horse in the country.
Artistic Star, who is one of the main dangers to Epsom Derby runner-up King Of Steel in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes (2405m), is a son of NECHITA.
The daughter of Fastest Rock had a fleeting career on the track, but in four starts managed to dominantly win three races, including the country's premier three-year-old sprint race at what would prove her final start.
She was sold to Coolmore at the 2013 National Broodmare Sale, for $1.55m, and headed to Ireland where she met up with legendary stallion Galileo on an annual basis.
Her first foal was Harpo Marx, who started his career in Europe but was bought by Darby Racing for 60,000gns and has proven a handy stayer in Australia, winning a Group 3 Premier's Cup at Kembla Grange before a Group 1 third placing in The Metropolitan.
Second foal Forbearance is a dual Stakes winner in Europe.
Artistic Star, who is prepared by Ralph Beckett, has had just three starts, winning his first two before finishing an 11-length seventh to Auguste Rodin in the Epsom Derby.
Nechita returned to Australia in 2020, in-foal to Frankel with a colt who sold for $650,000 at last year's National Weanling Sale and is now named Format and in the care of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, while then had a Justify colt who died after birth and last year visited Home Affairs.
The same spring that Nechita won the Coolmore, an imported grey Shamardal gelding embarked on a romp of some of the lower-level staying features that stamped him favourite for the following year's Melbourne Cup.
PUISSANCE DE LUNE won the Listed Bendigo Cup by eight lengths and Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes by five lengths.
His younger half-brother is Teumessias Fox, a son of Lope De Vega, who runs in the 2412m Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes.
The Andrew Balding-trained gelding is one of 10 foals to race from Unbridled's Song mare Princess Serena and is Royal Ascot favourite on account of three wins and four placings from 11 starts, including a last-start win at Newmarket.
Also engaged in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes race is Okita Soushi, who is a son of Galileo and Thousand Guineas winner AMICUS.
Trained by Chris Waller, Amicus is also by Fastnet Rock out of the El Moxie mare Gold Chant, which makes her a close relation to Starspangledbanner.
Okita Soushi is her first foal to race with Amicus now back in Australia after returning in-foal to Frankel earlier this season.
Okita Soushi, who is trained by Joseph O'Brien is a winner of three of his 10 starts with a further four placings and sits on the second line of betting for the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes, immediately ahead of Al Nafir, who is a brother to former superstar and now Darley shuttle stallion GHAIYYATH.
Aimeric, a half-brother to ACLAIM, who stands at Aquis, is another Duke Of Edinburgh runner.
The race before the Duke Of Edinburgh is one of the day's Group 1 features, the Commonwealth Cup, in which Little Big Bear is favourite.
The Aidan O'Brien-trained star is a son of No Nay Never and Adventure Seeker, which makes him a half-brother to ANDREA MANTEGNA, who counts an Ararat Cup and Horsham Cup among eight wins in Australia.
