Nola Soul gives Craig Bernick first Royal Ascot win in Chesham Stakes

Nola Soul turned the Listed Chesham Stakes into a breakthrough on two fronts at Royal Ascot, giving Craig Bernick his first winner at the meeting while underlining Justify’s growing pull with top-end juvenile turf runners. The colt, ridden by Seamie Heffernan, held on by half a length over stablemate On Just Terms in the seven-furlong contest on good to firm ground, with Aperoll third from 14 runners.

The race carried added tension before the field even settled. Aidan O’Brien’s favourite, Aix La Chapelle, reared in the stalls and was withdrawn, triggering a Rule 4 deduction and sharpening the significance of what followed. Nola Soul, sent off at 11/2, handled the interruption and kept finding enough to secure the race for Fozzy Stack, who celebrated his first Royal Ascot winner as trainer.

For Bernick, watching from Colorado rather than being on course in Berkshire, the result landed as both a personal milestone and a business statement. He had bought Nola Soul for $220,000 at the 2024 Keeneland November Sale from Glenwood Farm, a move that now looks even shrewder after the colt’s Ascot performance. Nola Soul was foaled on February 15, 2024, in Kentucky and is by Justify out of Sing Me Home (GB), by Muhaarar (GB), bred by John D. Gunther.

The Chesham was already the right stage for a colt with this profile. Ascot describes it as a Listed race for 2-year-olds over seven furlongs, and it has a habit of pointing toward more serious company later in a horse’s career. Nola Soul had already flashed that sort of promise when he won on debut at Leopardstown in May 2026, earning a TDN Rising Star rosette after overcoming greenness. Stack said then that the horse was a big colt who would need time and would likely have only a light campaign, a blueprint that has now been rewarded at the highest-profile summer meeting in Europe.

The win also strengthens Justify’s commercial case. Coolmore America listed the stallion at a 2026 fee of $200,000 at Ashford Stud, and BloodHorse noted that he already had 10 Grade 1 winners on his record. A Royal Ascot juvenile quinella for two of his sons only reinforces that reputation, especially in a race known for exposing class early.

Bernick’s path to the winner’s circle carried its own family imprint as well, shaped years earlier by his mother’s push to focus more on colts. Nola Soul has now turned that advice into one of the week’s most meaningful Ascot results, a first Royal winner for owner and trainer alike, and a result that hints at more black-type value still to come.