ROYAL ASCOT

QUEEN MARY, G2

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t was a poignant success for connections after winning the seven-furlong Listed Chesham Stakes with Arthur Kitt – the colt’s dam Ceiling Kitty had died giving birth to him. Ceiling Kitty had won the G2 Queen Mary in 2012 for owner Andrew Black of Chasemore Farm and trainer Tom Dascombe. “This means a whole lot to all of us – the stable, the staff, Andrew obviously, to Richard and to Chasemore Farm,” said Dascombe after training his fourth Royal Ascot winner. “We loved the mare, she died giving birth to this horse. I’ve lost
my voice screaming at him – half way through the race I thought he was last! But he’s just knuckled down and got on with it. He’s learning – I am thrilled for Chasemore and for Manor House Stables,” said Dascombe.
Chasemore Farm’s in-house vet Patrick Sells explained what happened that sad night when Ceiling Kitty died. “We had the panic when we knew something badly had gone wrong,” he said, “the sorrow when you know you can’t save the mare, then the relief when the foal is responding to resuscitation – it took a good five minutes for him to breathe. We were thinking of giving up and he was like a phoenix through the flames to get through that. The joy of then seeing him with his black and white nanny mare on the farm, and he was always very calm and collected and this is the realization of all our dreams. Andrew bred him for this race – and that is no exaggeration. Looking at Arthur now, the scope of him, I’ll say he’ll be a very exciting three-year-old.”
Richard Kingscote registering his fifth victory overall at the Royal Meeting made strong headway on Arthur Kitt towards the far-side rail in the closing stages and ran on strongly to deny the fast-finishing Nate The Great (11/1) by a neck. Trainer Archie Watson hailed Nate The Great as a horse with a “big future” after his charge went down by only a neck to Arthur Kitt. The Nathaniel colt came with a stirring challenge towards the stands side but was just unable to repel Arthur Kitt.

HARDWICKE STAKES, G2

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]rainer Sir Michael Stoute celebrated his 11th triumph in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes after the four-year-old son of Sea The Stars, Crystal Ocean, owned by Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, landed the odds. The 4/7 shot travelled in the slipstream of last year’s winner Idaho for much of the mile and a half contest. Crystal Ocean’s rider Ryan Moore made his move with over two furlongs out, powering to the front in telling fashion.
Red Verdon tried to throw down a challenge but Stoute’s charge had all the angles covered and stormed to victory by two and a half lengths. It was Stoute’s sixth winner in the last nine renewals of the race and also his fourth of the week at the Meeting. Asked which of his 11 Hardwicke Stakes is the best, Stoute demurred. “They never galloped with each other,” he replied with a broad grin on his face. Crystal Ocean was second in the G1 St Leger at Doncaster on his final start as a three-year-old and annexed two G3 events at Sandown and Newbury earlier this season.

Trainer Ed Dunlop was delighted with 33/1 shot Red Verdon’s two and a half length second-placed finish seeing the race as a useful stepping stone for some exciting autumn plans.
Seamie Heffernan, rider of the third-placed Cliffs Of Moher (10/1), who was running for the second time this week after a fourth placing in the G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday, said: “It was a very bad turnout for a good race, there were only five runners. I was happy with my run.”

WINDSOR CASTLE STAKES

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]rainer Archie Watson was understandably thrilled after landing his first ever Royal Ascot winner thanks to Soldier’s Call in the 28-runner Windsor Castle Stakes. The Showcasing colt showed dazzling speed to head up the group of horses racing closest to the stands’ side rail. He also demonstrated great resolve in the closing stages of the five-furlong contest as Sabre burst from the pack to throw down a serious bid for glory. But 12/1 shot Soldier’s Call dug deep to win by a half a length to give Watson recompense for finishing second with Nate The Great an hour earlier in the Chesham Stakes. Watson, in his second full season with a trainers’ licence, said: “I’m very blessed. It means the world to me and the whole team at home. This horse has got so much natural speed. We were umming and ahhing about whether to run in the Norfolk Stakes or the Windsor Castle. So I’m glad our decision to run here has been vindicated. We are just grateful to Steve Parkin (owner) and his team for sending us this calibre of horse.”
Richard Fahey was left wondering what might have been following Sabre’s second-placed finish.
The two-year-old son of Mayson ran on strongly in the closing stages under Paul Hanagan, but just failed to reel in the winner. Donnacha O’Brien, rider of third-placed Dom Carlos (16/1), trained by his brother Joseph, said: “Dom Carlos ran well, but it was all a bit of a shock to him early in the race.”

DIAMOND JUBILEE STAKES, G1

[dropcap]M[/dropcap]erchant Navy, trained by Aidan O’Brien, won the last G1 of Royal Ascot 2018, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, by a short-head from the French-trained City Light. Merchant Navy is an Australian-bred son of Fastnet Rock, a three-year-old in the southern hemisphere and a four-year-old here. The horse’s last run in Australia came in March. His first northern hemisphere run was in the G3 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh in May. Aidan O’Brien said: “Merchant Navy made lovely progress from the Curragh to here, but we thought that it was an impossible task for him. We knew that he was meeting the field 12 pound wrong than he was in Australia and it was a big worry for him. He was only a three-year-old being treated as a four-year-old. Merchant Navy was travelling very well and we knew looking at him that Ryan was very happy. I think he was hoping he would not have to get there too early on him. He got a little bit of a bump and Ryan said it took a bit of time to rebalance. We are over the moon with him. We were always told that he was only here for Royal Ascot because he has stallion commitments in Australia. That’s why we were so anxious to get a run into him at the Curragh, because we knew that we might not have him after Ascot.”
Ciaron Maher, the Australian-based former trainer of Merchant Navy, when asked of his thoughts concerning missing out on training the horse to win himself, said: “It’s great for the horse and for the owners and they sold him for a fairly healthy sum to Coolmore who always had a share – you can’t have your cake and eat it. He’s come through our system and was an unbeaten two-year-old and a G1-winning three-year-old and now he has come and done it up here as well. He’s obviously going to have a good time at stud and be very busy in both hemispheres. I have never been to Royal Ascot, but I thought a testing six furlongs would be perfect for him – and he can run seven, he proved that as a two-year-old. He’s got an unbelievable set of lungs, a testing 1200 would be ideal for him.
The Clive Cox-trained Harry Angel, the well-supported 5/2 favourite, lost several lengths at the start when rearing up in the stalls. He said: “Harry Angel is not straightforward in the stalls, as you can see. He has a nasty puncture wound, which we are concerned enough about. He was not sound behind when he came in – he wasn’t dreadful, but he wasn’t sound. He had his leg caught up on the side of the stall. Whether he has tweaked something high up as well, I am not sure.” City Light produced the best performance of his career to finish second but it was agony for connections as the four-year-old went down by a short-head in a photo-finish. A Group 3 winner at Longchamp on his last start and successful in the All-Weather Championships Sprint at Lingfield Park earlier in the year, the Stephane Wattel-trained and Christophe Soumillon-ridden four-year-old Siyouni colt this afternoon showed he is very capable in top-class company. Wesley Ward, winner of the race in 2015 with Undrafted, had to settle for third place after long-time leader Bound For Nowhere was headed late on, having drifted left.

WOKINGHAM HERITAGE HANDICAP

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]rian Meehan recorded his first Royal Ascot winner for six years when Bacchus sprang a 33/1 surprise in the Wokingham Heritage Handicap. The Manton-based trainer was part of a sustained and joyous reaction after the four-year-old defied an almighty plunge on the previously unbeaten the John Gosden-trained 2/1 favourite Dreamfield. The two horses fought out an exciting tussle late, but it was the neck winner Bacchus who triggered huge scenes of celebration in the parade ring. It was a tremendous feat by Meehan and the horse, who was making his first start in 260 days. Meehan said: “He was one horse who took a long time to come to hand in the spring. He just needed that bit of extra time. Ridden by Jim Crowley, the four-year-old son of Kheleyf had been off the track for 260 days but mowed down Dreamfield close home to score by a neck. Crowley, registering his second victory of the week, following the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Eqtidaar’s win in the G1 Commonwealth Cup and his fifth success at the Royal Meeting overall.

QUEEN ALEXANDRA CONDITIONS RACE

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he mercurial, quirky, yet talented Pallasator (11/2) landed the concluding race of Royal Ascot 2018, the Queen Alexandra Conditions Race for trainer Gordon Elliott and jockey Jamie Spencer.
Winning rider Spencer was registering his 26th success overall at the Royal Meeting. The nine-year-old son of Motivator lugged towards the stands’ side rail in the closing stages but fended off Willie Mullins’ 40/1 shot Renneti to score by a length and a half in the extended two mile and five-furlong furlong event. Pallasator and third-placed Count Octave (4/1) are both owned by Qatar Racing, whilst the winner provided Elliott, best known for his exploits over jumps, with a second success at the Royal Meeting [2016 Commissioned, Queen Alexandra].

LEADING JOCKEY AWARD

LEADING TRAINER AWARD