West Acre scoring the Group 3 Nad al Sheba Turf Sprint. (Dubai Racing Club)
Top sprinter heads to Royal Ascot with Breeders’ Cup ambitions
Breeders’ Cup Release
NEWMARKET, Eng. – Michael Blencowe’s West Acre (IRE) will aim to cement his place among Europe’s top sprinters when he lines up for the King Charles III Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot on June 17 – a key fixture in the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series is an international series of 93 stakes races in 15 countries whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, scheduled to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California.
Trained by George Scott, 3-year-old West Acre has made rapid progress since his belated debut late last year. Despite missing most of his juvenile season with a setback, the son of Mehmas (IRE) has burst onto the scene with two Group victories in Dubai – most notably breaking the track record at Meydan in the Blue Point Sprint (G2) before following up in the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint (G3) in March.
“His racing career started late, because of an issue that he picked up as a young horse,” Scott said. “As he went through the grades you could see him growing in confidence. He won the Blue Point really impressively; he’d probably had a harder race than we anticipated that day. He’s come back now and he’s fresh and well and looks like he’s at the peak of his powers again.”
Now freshened up and thriving at home in Newmarket, West Acre returns to British soil for the first time in 2025 and takes on a strong field in the King Charles III Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot, where Scott had a winner last year with Victorious Racing’s Isle of Jura (GB).
“We had a winner last year. We won the Hardwicke with Isle of Jura, we felt it was a big moment,” Scott said. “You’re instantly recognizable as a stable when you have success there. It’s part of the growth as a young stable that you really need. We’ve got a team of horses going there this year. If we have a clear week with them in the build-up, we hope something might happen.”
Scott is hopeful conditions will suit West Acre at Royal Ascot.
“Fast ground, strong pace, the track should really suit him,” he said. “The weather looks like it is going to be dry next week, so we’d like a nice fast track to get him started back here on.”
The race serves as a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1), granting the winner an automatic fees-paid berth into the $1 million contest at Del Mar in November. Scott is no stranger to the meeting, having saddled the W J and T C O Gredley-owned James Garfield (IRE) in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at Del Mar in 2017.
“James Garfield was my first good horse and Frankie (Dettori) rode him in the Breeders’ Cup,” Scott said. “It didn’t really get much better than that at the time. It certainly gave me the appetite to want to come back. So West Acre’s season we’ll see how it all pans out, but the plan is to end up at Del Mar with him.”
Scott is a big supporter of the Breeders’ Cup, enjoying his time in America and American racing.
“You’ve got that real international theme at the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “I really enjoy the way the Breeders’ Cup do things. They try to bring the best horses in the world together and in true American style it’s bigger and better than anything else.”
