Shadai Race Horse's Masquerade Ball and Teruya Yoshida's Wurttemberg arrived at Newmarket July 12 and are settling into their new surroundings while preparing for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) July 25 at Ascot Racecourse.
Masquerade Ball, 4-year-old colt by Duramente trained by Takahisa Tezuka, won last year's Tenno Sho Autumn (G1) Nov. 2 at Tokyo Racecourse where he defeated older horses. Also last season, he finished second to Calandagan, beaten a head, in the Japan Cup (G1) Nov. 30 at Tokyo. Calandagan, named Longines World's Best Race Horse of 2025 following his Japan Cup win, also is being pointed to the King George and Queen Elizabeth—setting up an exciting rematch of the first two finishers from last year's Japan Cup.
Masquerade Ball returned to action this year in Hong Kong and finished second to Romantic Warrior in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1) April 26 at Sha Tin.
Wurttemberg, a 6-year-old son of Kitasan Black, will enter off a runner-up finish in the Tenno Sho Spring (G1) May 3 at Kyoto Racecourse, where he was narrowly defeated by Croix du Nord, a winner of four grade 1 races including last year's Japanese Derby (G1).
Masquerade Ball and Wurttemberg breezed together at Warren Hill July 16 in Newmarket. Trainers Tezuka and Hiroshi Miyamato are scheduled to arrive July 20 to put the finishing touches on their runners ahead of Saturday's 1 1/2-mile test that offers a purse of £2 million (approx. US$2.69 million).
Jockey Christophe Lemaire is booked for Masquerade Ball and Oisin Murphy is scheduled to ride Wurttemberg.
