Stradivarius and Crystal Ocean back in the winners enclosure Two of the stars of 2018 by Gilltown Stud sire Sea The Stars, Stradivarius and Crystal Ocean, have made the best possible start to the 2019. Champion stayer Stradivarius made a winning return to action in the Yorkshire Cup, while Crystal Ocean has already lifted two Group successes.

Unbeaten in 2018 including two Group 1 titles in the Ascot Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup, and rewarded by the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million bonus, Stradivarius returned to action when successfully defending his crown in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup at York on Friday. The son of Arc hero Sea The Stars recorded his sixth consecutive victory in a professional manner and trainer John Gosden commented, “Stradivarius is the best stayer I’ve trained by he’s never going to go and win by five lengths and show off – that’s not his style.”

Bjorn Nielsen’s homebred five-year-old will now be prepared for a third successive win at Royal Ascot, after the Group 2 Queen’s Vase in 2017 and the Gold Cup last year.

The talented Crystal Ocean provided a second Group success for his sire Sea The Stars over the weekend, with a convincing victory in the Group 3 Aston Park Stakes at Newbury. Like Stradivarius, Crystal Ocean was a winner at Royal Ascot last season when lifting the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes, and he went on to finish runner-up in both the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Champion Stakes at the same track. Sir Michael Stoute’s charge was winning his second race of the season after securing the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes in April, and he is now set to return to Ascot, with his target being the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes during the Royal Meeting. Owned by Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, the highly-consistent Crystal Ocean has never finished outside the first three, and he now counts six Group successes.

Updated on 20/05/2019.