World’s top miler Palace Pier reigns in Queen Anne Stakes
Palace Pier (Kingman) showed why he is rated the best miler in the world as the red-hot favourite ran out a convincing winner of the opening race of the royal meeting, the Queen Anne Stakes (Gr 1, 1m).
The John and Thady Gosden-trained four-year-old was winning for the second successive year at Royal Ascot, having taken out the St James’s Palace Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) 12 months earlier, as he scored at odds of 2-7, the shortest price any runner has been sent off for the race since the great Frankel (Galileo) blew away his rivals by ten lengths at odds of 1-10 back in 2012.
While yesterday’s winning margin on quick ground was someway shy of that, at a length and a half, Palace Pier (4 c ex Beach Frolic by Nayef ), never really looked in danger once sent to the front by Frankie Dettori, who was winning the race for the seventh time, when racing inside the final two furlongs.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained Lope Y Fernandez (Lope De Vega) emerged out of the pack late on to take second without troubling the favourite, while Sir Busker (Sir Prancealot), also a winner at the meeting last year, ran a highly creditable race in third. The son of the Cornerstone Stud shuttler Sir Prancealot (Tamayuz), who was taking a notable step up in grade, finished two and a half lengths behind the winner.
“It’s the first time he ran on this kind of ground and he didn’t let down as well as he could, but still he won a Group 1 and he showed again he’s the best miler around,” said Dettori, after riding his 74th Royal Ascot winner.
“On easier ground he’s probably got a little bit more to give. He’s quite clumsy with his feet, he’s forever losing his shoes and things like that, but when he goes fast he’s alright.
“It’s a pressure ride, the first one, you want everything to go right, and it did. It’s a weight off the shoulders.”
Palace Pier, who is now unbeaten in three starts this season, has tasted defeat just once in his nine starts to date.
“He’s a gorgeous horse with a great attitude,” said Gosden senior, who was sending out his 56th Royal Ascot winner and first in partnership with his son. “He’s not a flashy worker but he does it on the track.
“His father went on very fast ground in the Sussex Stakes and bottomless in the Jacques Le Marois, so he’s the same as his father. He can go on any ground and he’s a lovely horse, a lot of scope about him, and he’s a pleasure to be around.”
Now a four-time elite-level winner, Palace Pier, who is out of a half-sister to Grafton Cup (Listed 2350m) winner Bonfire (Manduro), headed into yesterday’s race with a rating of 125, 1lb clear of Hong Kong superstar Golden Sixty (Medaglia d’Oro) in the mile international classifications.