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Royal Ascot 2026: Nola Soul provides trainer Fozzy Stack with a first winner at meeting

Two-year-old lands the Group Two opener to give trainer Fozzy Stack his first Royal Ascot winner on the third day of the 2026 meeting

[Nola Soul, ridden by Seamie Heffernan, on the way to winning the Chesham Stakes on day three of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse, Berkshire on Thursday, June 18 2026]

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Nola Soul, ridden by Seamie Heffernan, on the way to winning the Chesham Stakes on day three of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse, Berkshire on Thursday, June 18 2026(Image: Mike Egerton/PA)

Nola Soul (11-2) grabbed victory in the Chesham Stakes on the third day of the 2026 Royal Ascot 2026 to give trainer Fozzy Stack a first winner at the meeting.

As favourite Aix La Chapelle who was bidding to provide Aidan O'Brien with his 100th Royal Ascot winner was withdrawn after rearing in the stalls beforehand, fellow Irish trainer Fozzy Stack took advantage to land his first at the meeting. Under Seamie Heffernan who has provided five of those 99 winners for O'Brien the Justify colt was a determined winner of the seven-furlong Listed contest, the opener on day three.

Nola Soul had been second to the Joseph O'Brien-trained King Of Cloughan, who won the Windsor Castle Stakes earlier in the week, and he upheld that form to triumph. The two-year-old had been very keen throughout under Heffernan, but he kept finding more in the finish to scored by half-a-length from Joseph O'Brien's newcomer On Just Terms (28-1) with the front-running Aperoll (12-1) staying on to be a head back in third. Aix La Chapelle's stablemate South Dakota had been backed into second favourite at 10-3 and was a further three-quarters-of-a-length back in fourth under Wayne Lordan.

Stack, whose father Tommy was also a trainer but is most famous for partnering the great Red Rum to his record third Grand National victory at Aintree Racecourse in 1977, was landing a first winner at the Royal meeting. He said: "Hes a lovely horse and we have a high opinion of him. Seamie (Heffernan) has always loved him. Hes a big strong galloper who can go fast for a long time. If he came out of the debut run alright, it was always the plan to come here. It's the place everyone wants to be.

"A plan well executed! He's a big, powerful galloper, he keeps going fast for a long time, I'm lucky to have him and delighted for Craig [Benrick, owner]. He's a little bit of character, he did something similar at Leopardstown, he doesn't like people to get behind his backside and can lash out so you just have to play around with him. I think he'll definitely get a mile and a quarter but we'll enjoy today first, it's a nice problem to have.

"That was good! He's a horse we've always liked, a big, powerful galloper who can go fast for a long time and stays really well. We were very hopeful of a good run you just hope they show up on the day, whether you win, finish third, fourth... whatever. He stays really well. He's a January foal, a big fella. I'd say he'd have no problem getting a mile and a quarter in time. I'd hope he might turn up in a good race at the end of the year."

Winning jockey Heffernan, who was landing his seventh career victory at Royal Ascot, added: "The beauty is there's more to come. I've plenty of experience with the Justifys so I know exactly what they like and what they don't like. A lot of them have an engine and once it's geared the right way, they're good. It's a great pleasure that Mr Bernick, the owner, had the confidence in me to teach him and it was the right thing; he was an Ascot horse from a long time ago. It's a pleasure to be here. He was waiting for something to come, he's a professional, he was waiting.

"He always showed plenty, he's by the right stallion, big stride, big heart. I think the key thing is, there's more to come, because he's still raw and immature, but when they give you the class feel from day one and they keep backing it up every week when you sit on them, it's usually a good feel, but big thumbs up to the owner I think he picked him out himself, and he sent him to Fozzie with a lot of confidence. We just kept agreeing that he's above where he should be.

"It's brilliant I owe Craig a big thank you. I'd like to be busier this week here, but I'm not. It's lovely to have another winner here it means more than you know, and I'm running out of time."

On runner-up On Just Terms, jockey Dylan Browne-McMonagle said: Great run, he wasnt the quickest away but I just had to get him relaxed and find his feet the first half. They went a nice even gallop, which gave me a chance to get into it. He came home well and hit the line good. He is one to look forward to.

On third home Aperoll, trainer Richard Hannon (Aperoll) said: You come to this place to see if youve got a good filly, and the answer to that is a yes. If you come here and finish third and youre disappointed, then youre not in the real world! The splits of the first few furlongs was unreal. Shes a very good filly, thats the good news. Its good news that we finished third too, there were some very good horses behind us.

All through this year and next year shes a filly for next year shell be competitive at the top level, I would say. We have an extremely nice filly to go to all the best places with and thats what we want. We are delighted, shes run a super race and its a massive step up from her Newbury maiden and shes proved today that shes a good filly.

You see her walking around here and shes half asleep, shes like a chaser. Through the gates it was like she came from 100 yards back on a skateboard woomph! Dobbsy held onto her for as long as he could, hes given her a beautiful ride. Maybe over-racing might have cost her the race, but shes a very good filly and there will be a lot of great days in her, as well today.

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