High quality sprinting mare Glass Slippers has the chance to keep her Group 1 record intact if she can win the GBP£250,000 King’s Stand Stakes (5 furlongs) at Royal Ascot in England today.
Battaash, above, is the odds on favourite for the 2020 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. Getty Images
The Kevin Ryan trained Glass Slippers has only started at the elite level once for a last start win in the Group 1 EUR€350,000 Prix De L’Abbaye De Longchamp Longines (1000m) at Longchamp on October 6 last year.
Glass Slippers will go into the King’s Stand Stakes first up but Ryan said the mare will be primed for the sprint down the Royal Ascot straight without a lead up run.
“She’s in great order, has been working consistently well and is exactly where we want her. It’ll be her first race of the year but she doesn’t need a prep run, she just needs a bit of sun on her back,” Ryan told the Racing Post.
“When she went to Newbury first time out in April last year she hadn’t come in her coat but when she went to Ayr, which was in Royal Ascot week, she ran an absolute stormer.”
Ryan said that he was surprised to see Glass Slippers show so much pace when she raced with the leaders before going on to record a three lengths win in the 1000m sprint down the Longchamp straight on a rain affected track.
“We never expected her to jump out and show the speed that she did at Longchamp – and she looks as though she’s got quicker again this year,” Ryan said.
“The ground will be nothing like as soft as it was in the Abbaye but she’s pretty versatile.”
Regular rider Tom Eaves will be in the saddle again and Glass Slippers will jump from gate four in the eleven horse field.
Glass Slippers is on the second line of betting at $5.50 at Ladbrokes.com.au behind Battaash who is the odds on $1.75 favourite for the King’s Stand Stakes.
The only other runner under the $10 mark is the John Quinn trained Liberty Beach at $8.50.
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