STORM BOY FACES A MOMENT OF TRUTH AT ROYAL ASCOT

By Graham Potter | Saturday, June 21, 2025

Storm Boy will face a big test on the last day of the Royal Ascot meeting on Saturday where the son of Justify will line up for the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes over 1200m.

Storm Boy won five out of ten starts in Australia … including a success at Group 2 level in the Skyline Stakes, but he has yet to salute at the elite level of Group 1 competition.

He has chased Group 1 glory on four occasions to date with those results including a third place finish in the Golden Slipper, when ridden by Ryan Moore. On that occasion Storm Boy finished within 1.50 lengths of the winner, Lady Of Camelot.

Another big run of note came in 2024 The Everest. Although unplaced there, Storm Boy again was less than two lengths off the winner Bella Nipotina, a highly creditable run.

Storm Boy then was relocated overseas to be trained by the master Aidan O’Brien, but things certainly did not go to plan when Storm Boy kicked off the international chapter of his career with a very disappointing last place finish when coming home as a beaten favourite in the Group 2 Greenland Stakes.

So, there is a lot on the line for Storm Boy in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

That first Group 1 win is an aspect very much in play but, perhaps even more important than that at this moment, is to see Storm Boy back racing to his full potential, which was clearly not the case in his first run in Europe.

“He had a run at the Curragh. Ran a little bit inconclusive, I suppose,” said Aidan O’Brien in an At The Races interview.

“He had niggly things (before his first run) that we just had to sort out to help him get through things and help him to adjust.

“We felt we had all of the things sorted that we needed to sort, but maybe we didn’t have the hard gallop into him that we would have wanted before that race, but we knew we had to run him because we had to find out more about him before Ascot.

“We knew we would have to make adjustments … and we have made loads of adjustments, which we think have worked.

“He is in a much better place now and we think we will see a different horse than we saw at the Curragh.”

Storm Boy is due to face fifteen rivals in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. He is currently quoted at $10.

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