BC Internationals: Turf Sprint contender Washington DC

A Royal Ascot winner at two for Aidan O’Brien, Washington DC has developed into a capable sprinter this term, and he figures to come charging late.

The $429,318 Goffs Orby yearling is from a bumper first crop sired by O’Brien’s past Group 1-winning juvenile Zoffany. Washington DC was one of a trio of Zoffany stakes winners at the 2015 Royal meeting, taking the five-furlong Windsor Castle in determined fashion. In his only subsequent outing last season, he finished second to then-supreme Air Force Blue in the Phoenix (G1).

After a highly consistent juvenile campaign that never saw him out of the top two, Washington DC has done well to remain a fairly dependable character in the ultra-competitive sprint ranks. He’s won or placed in seven of 10 starts this season, with two of his unplaced efforts coming in Group 1s versus his elders. That record testifies as much to his mental fortitude as his physical toughness.

Washington DC opened his busy 2016 by dusting the opposition in a seven-furlong listed stakes over Dundalk’s Polytrack, and after a rare flop in the Pavilion (G3) at Ascot, he readily bounced back in the Power S. at Navan and placed second in the Lacken (G3) at Naas. Thus ended the softer portion of his schedule; from this point on, he’d be in the majors.

In Royal Ascot's Commonwealth Cup (G1), his last outing against fellow sophomores, Washington DC was a bold third on softish ground that’s not his preference. The winning filly, Quiet Reflection, proved her merit in open company throughout the season, including a convincing win over older males in the September 3 Haydock Sprint Cup (G1).

 

Washington DC got firm ground in the July Cup (G1), a mouth-watering intergenerational clash which attracted a “who’s who” on the sprint scene. You could hardly ask for a sterner task in your first attempt against older horses, putting his creditable fifth behind Limato into perspective.