Animal Kingdom A Favorite To Win His Final Race

In what will be his last race before retirement, Madison's favorite horse, Animal Kingdom, is the odds-on favorite to win the Queen Anne Stakes at the Royal Ascot, a race that is scheduled to go off at 2:30 p.m. BST (British Summer Time, which is five hours ahead of EDT in Connecticut). 

English bookmakers have made Animal Kingdom, owned by a consortium that includes Madison's Tom and Julie Furey, the odds-on favorite, reports The New York Times: "English bookmakers have made the 5-year-old Animal Kingdom the favorite to win what will be his final race. His presence here has been covered with fascination usually reserved for international celebrities like David Beckham."

Tom Furey left Sunday morning for England and says he too is optimistic about Animal Kingdom's chances.

"The bookies think he is a lock. We are confident, but again, he has to do things he has never done before, such as run one mile on a straight away that goes uphill the last 300 yards," Furey wrote us via email. "But he has already made history twice before, once at the [Kentucky] Derby and then at the World Cup. So he's going for the Trifecta."

Furey says only one Kentucky Derby winner has ever raced at Royal Ascot. "That was Omaha in 1936 and he finished second." 

Animal Kingdom has already won the Kentucky Derby and the World Cup, the world's richest race.

"Right now I'm extremely confident," said breeder and part-owner Barry Irwin in this interview with Skysports, who added that he wanted Animal Kingdom to race at Royal Ascot to help boost the horse's popularity and marketability. Irwin says Animal Kingdom's success is due to his superior cardiovascular system, a unique temperament, and a great mind. "He's a tough son-of-a-gun." 

After this race, Animal Kingdom will divide his time between Australia for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season, and Kentucky for the Northern Hemisphere breeding season, the Miami Herald reports.