Royal Ascot wrap – day two
First for Profitable
Quick Suzy (2 f ex Snooze by Marju) landed the Queen Mary Stakes (Gr 2, 5f) yesterday to provide first season sire Profitable (Invincible Spirit) with his first stakes winner. Quick Suzy was second in the Fillies Sprint Stakes (Gr 3, 6f) at Naas last month and went one better than that effort to score by one and a quarter lengths from the Wesley Ward-trained favourite Twilight Gleaming (National Defense). Cheerupsleepyjean (Starspangledbanner), sent off a 50-1 shot, was another one and three-quarter lengths back in third. Quick Suzy was the first runner at the royal meeting for Irish trainer Gavin Cromwell, who is better known for his exploits over jumps, and she followed in the hoofprints of Profitable in becoming a Royal Ascot winner, after he took the 2016 running of the King’s Stand Stakes (Gr 1, 5f). Quick Suzy, a €20,000 purchase by Aoife Dunphy from the Goffs Ireland Autumn Yearling Sale, is the first winner from three to race out of Snooze (Marju). Profitable has so far sired seven winners from his first crop and he stands at Kildangan Stud in Ireland for a €10,000 (approx. AU$15,735) fee.
Carroll and Cromwell combine for first royal success
Gary Carroll, who rode his first Royal Ascot winner at just the third attempt yesterday, paid tribute to Quick Suzy’s trainer post-race, who won the Stayers’ Hurdle (3m) at the Cheltenham Festival in March. “Fair play to Gavin, from a three-mile stayers’ hurdle to five furlongs at Ascot, he can do it,” said the winning jockey. “She travelled very easily and I thought we didn’t go quick enough. I knew she would get to the line today. She is very good, very genuine, and very tough.” Cromwell was delighted with his first royal winner, which was also his first elite-level success on the Flat. “It is absolutely unbelievable. It is fantastic,” he said. “I was very confident she was going to run a big race but where she lay with the English horses and the American horses we didn’t know until we came here. It was very hard to tell but I knew she was in great nick.”
208 for Dubawi
Kemari (3 g Koora by Pivotal) became the 208th individual stakes winner for Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) when he took out the Queen’s Vase (Gr 2, 1m 6f) on just his third start yesterday. Lining up off the back of a six-length win at Yarmouth last month, the Godolphin-raced three-year-old took the lead inside the final two furlongs and scooted clear to defeat favourite Wordsworth (Galileo) by one and a half lengths, with Stowell (Zoffany) another one and a quarter lengths back in third. Bought for 400,000gns from Book 1 of the 2019 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, Kemari is the first foal out of Group 3 winner Koora (Pivotal), who is also a half-sister to St Leger (Gr 1, 1m 6f) winner Milan (Sadler’s Wells). Dubawi stands at Dalham Hall Stud for a £250,000 (approx. AU$457,920) fee.
Kemari made Melbourne Cup favourite after Vase triumph
A trip Down Under for a tilt at the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) could be on the agenda for Kemari (Dubawi) following his victory in the Queen’s Vase (Gr 2, 1m 6f). The northern hemisphere bookmakers reacted to yesterday’s result by making the Godolphin runner the 16-1 favourite for the November contest and Charlie Appleby, who landed the race in 2018 with the Kerrin McEvoy-ridden Cross Counter (Teofilo), said it is now a possibility Kemari could be on his travels later in the year. “He could hopefully make up into a nice cup horse for next year. Will he be a Melbourne Cup horse for this year? We will see,” the winning trainer said. “This year – as we all know, in the past few years three-year-olds in the Melbourne Cup, they have produced the goods. Whether he gets to that level, we’ll see, but we’ll enjoy today and have the discussions with our principals and managers during the next few weeks and map the autumn out. He’s got a profile that is working in that direction, anyway.” William Buick, who was riding his 27th Royal Ascot winner, believes Kemari has the profile for Flemington. “I think Kemari is quite a straightforward horse,” he said post-race. “I would say he is [Melbourne Cup type]. The team know that race well and I would be very surprised if they don’t have one eye on that race.”
Indie Angel causes an upset in the Duke Of Cambridge
The John and Thady Gosden-trained Indie Angel (4 f Dark Angel – Indigo Lady by Sir Percy) landed the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes (Gr 2, 1m) at odds of 22-1 to provide Frankie Dettori with a 75th Royal Ascot winner. The daughter of Dark Angel (Acclamation) finished behind the reopposing Lady Bowthorpe (Nathaniel) and Queen Power (Shamardal) in the Dahlia Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 1f) last month but reversed that form to score by two and a half lengths from Lady Bowthorpe, with Queen Power a short head further back in third. Having broken from the widest stall in the 12-runner field, Dettori cruised up along the standside rail aboard the four-year-old and took the lead entering the final furlong, with many of his market rivals situated towards the centre of the track. Indie Angel pulled clear with ease to score her second stakes success, having won at Listed level on the all-weather last year. It was a record fifth win in the race for Cheveley Park Stud, who bred Tuesday’s Coventry Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) winner Berkshire Shadow (Dark Angel). “She is a very talented filly but she has her own mind,” Cheveley Park’s managing director, Chris Richardson, said. “Frankie has ridden her a couple of times and today the draw was to our advantage as long as they didn’t come over – that was the worry. It is a race which has been very fortunate to us.” Bought for 600,000gns from the 2017 Tattersalls December Foals Sale, Indie Angle is the second foal out of stakes-winning mare Indigo Lady (Sir Percy).
Eight for Havana Gold
Chipotle (2 c ex Lightsome by Makfi) bounced back from a disappointing effort at Sandown last time out to land the Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed, 5f) yesterday and provide his sire Havana Gold (Teofilo) with his eighth individual stakes winner. Chipotle got his season off to a flyer when winning the Brocklesby Stakes (5f) at Doncaster in March, the first two-year-old race of the season, and followed that up with a win in the Royal Ascot Two-Year-Old Trial Stakes (5f) in April. He finished sixth on soft ground at Listed level last-start, but showed his liking for a firm surface with a two-and-a-quarter-length defeat of Dig Two (Cotai Glory) yesterday. Boonie (Brazen Beau), bred and owned by Mark Pilkington of Seymour Bloodstock, was a further head back in third. A 10,000gns buy from the Tattersalls Ireland Ascot Yearling Sale last year, Chipotle is the second foal out of Makfi (Dubawi) mare Lightsome, who was winless from 17 starts on the track. Havana Gold, who stands at Tweenhills for £7,500 (approx. AU$13,725), is the sire of Flying Five Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) winner Havana Grey.
Bishop delighted with bargain buy Chipotle
Winning jockey Charles Bishop brought up his second Royal Ascot success on the Eve Johnson Houghton-trained colt, and he paid tribute to both trainer and horse post-race. “A lot of credit goes to the trainer. We were very disappointed after Sandown as we thought he was very good – the ground just blunted his turn of foot but there were no excuses there – he has shown he is very good,” said Bishop. “It is not very often you get a run like that here at the royal meeting but I had the horse to go for the gaps – they weren’t very big – but he was very brave. I almost got there too soon but thankfully he held on.”
Real World on another planet in Royal Hunt Cup
The Saeed bin Suroor-trained Real World (Dark Angel) defied the supposed adversity of being drawn low to blow his rivals away in the Royal Hunt Cup (1m) yesterday. Making his first start on turf, Real World sat behind his Godolphin counterpart Eastern World (Dubawi) on the far side, the smaller of the two groups that the 30-runner contest split into. The attention was focused on the stands’ side as Real World took the lead on the far side, and he burst clear under Marco Ghiani driving into an unassailable lead to win by four and three-quarter lengths over the fast-finishing favourite Astro King (Kingman) on the near side, who finished xx ahead of Grove Ferry (Excelebration). The result was a second Royal Ascot winner this year for his sire Dark Angel (Acclamation), who also sired the winner of the Coventry Stakes, Berkshire Shadow. A five-length winner of a novice contest on the all-weather last year, Real World had been campaigned in Dubai for his next four starts, including when third in the Curlin Stakes (Listed, 2000m). Yet that inexperience did not stop him here, as he proved a dominant winner for Godolphin. “He has been doing very well. I have always liked him and he is improving all the time,” said Bin Suroor. “Everybody was talking about the draw but Marco made a good decision early, and then when I saw him at halfway I thought we have a chance. A winner is great for us and we are looking forward to the future very positively.” Ghiani added: “I was drawn four and everything was coming over towards the stands’ side but I walked the course and it felt like it was much better on both sides than in the middle so I decided to track William Buick (on Eastern World) and he gave me a beautiful lead. He was travelling really strongly to the two and I just asked him to quicken up and he picked up really well. I think he is an improving horse. He feels like a big baby and there is plenty more to come.” A homebred for Godolphin, Real World is out of Nafura (Dubawi), a half-sister to Group 1 winners Librettist (Danzig) and Dubai Destination (Kingmambo).
Loughnane quinella as Pearson joins select list in finale
Laura Pearson became just the fourth female jockey to win a race at Royal Ascot when she landed the concluding Kensington Palace Stakes (1m) yesterday aboard Lola Showgirl (Night Of Thunder). Pearson, a five-pound claimer who has only been riding for four seasons, joins Gay Kelleway, Hayley Turner and Hollie Doyle as fellow female jockeys to score at the prestigous meeting. Lola Showgirl led home a David Loughnane-trained quinella, with Ffion (Sepoy) finishing second. The Roger Varian-trained Waliyak (Le Havre) was third.
Buick in trouble
William Buick’s shock win on Reshoun (Shamardal) in Tuesday’s Ascot Stakes (2m 4f) came at a cost to the championship chasing rider, who found himself in trouble with the stewards. Buick, whose mount beat the Ryan Moore-ridden M C Muldoon (Mastercraftsman) by a short head, was found guilty of a breach of the whip rules and subsequently banned for 11 days and fined £1,150 (approx. AUD$2,105).
French fancy faces 20 in Commonwealth Cup
Unbeaten French filly Suesa (Night Of Thunder) is set to face 20 rivals when she attempts to make it a perfect five in tomorrow’s Commonwealth Cup (Gr 1, 6f) at Royal Ascot. Stood in her way in the meeting’s newest Group 1 race, which has proven to be something of a highlight in its short history, is the Wesley Ward-trained Campanelle (Kodiac), with Supremacy (Mehmas) for the Clive Cox and Adam Kirby partnership leading the home challenge. A field of 13 are set to go to post for the day’s other elite-level race, the Coronation Stakes (Gr 1, 1m), in which the Aidan O’Brien-trained winners of the English 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m), Mother Earth (Zoffany), and the Irish equivalent, Empress Josephine (Galileo), are due to lock horns.