There might not be an official family day at Royal Ascot, but the fourth day of the royal meeting definitely had a family flavour as the O’Brien clan, senior and junior, sent out winners while the Keane family joined in when Irish champion rider Colin landed the spoils in one of the big handicaps of the week for his father, Gerard.
It was also a day when the Australian challenge loomed large in the shape of the Mick Price and Michael Kent trained Kitty Rose, who went off favourite for the 30 runner Sandringham Stakes, a 30 runner handicap for three year old fillies.
Backed into 7/2 ($4.50) Kitty Rose, the mount of Oisin Murphy, ran well to finish fifth but her thunder was stolen by Sydney based rider Rachel King, who almost caused a huge boilover on the 33/1 shot Stuttering, trained by John Gosden.
Stuttering looked all over the winner as the contenders thundered down the stands rail ony to be run down out wide by the 14/1 chance Soprano, ridden by rising star Billy Loughnane, who finished hard down the centre of the track.
It was, said King ”a huge thrill” to be part of such a great occasion.
It’s been a huge week for the English born rider who had to travel to Australia to get the chance to succeed in the saddle.
At the weekend she got married, and almost gave herself a wedding present to remember on Stuttering.
”She was a lovely horse to ride, she travelled beautifully and probably got herself there a bit too soon, but credit to her, she tried hard and was very brave. The tough mile really suited her. It was a thrill just to be competing, but to be in the finish was fantastic,” the jockey said.
Aidan O’Brien winning races at Royal Ascot is no surprise, but for his son Donnacha, a former champion jockey whom rising weight forced out of the saddle, victory in the group 1 Coronation Stakes for three year old fillies is a milestone of a different kind.
Under a rider very familiar to Australian punters – Tom Marquand – O’Brien’s Porta Fortuna reversed the 1,000 Guineas form with her Newmarket conqueror Elmalka to win the 1600 metre feature.
Porta Fortuna battled on to beat the Aidan O’Brien trained Opera Singer, with Ramatuelle, the French filly who had finished third at Newmarket occupying the same place here. Elmalka was on the heels of the placegetters in fourth position, illustrating the strength of the classic form. Opera Singer did not run at Newmarket, instead making her seasonal reappearance at The Curragh in the Irish equivalent later in May when she ran third behind Fallen Angel, who did not run here.
Aidan got his customary winner early in the day when Ryan Moore managed to extricate the favourite Fairy Godmother close to home in the group 3 Albany Stakes to land the spoils and give favourite backers a good start to the day.
The family theme continued in one of the days big handicaps, the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, when the Keane clan teamed up to score with the highly weighted Crystal Black, who came with a well timed run to defeat Epic Poet and Ziggy with the well backed Willie Mullins contender Ethical Diamond fourth.
The winner has shown steady improvement since being bought by his trainer as a rising four year old and he will now be aimed at loftier targets, with the Irish based trainer not ruling out an overseas campaign and a tilt at the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups.
”He’ll have a bit of a holiday now and we will see what we do. He will have to aim at black type or group three next.”
One horse who has sealed his future after just five starts is the winner of the day’s other group 1 contest, the 1200 metre Commonwealth Cup.
The Ryan trained Insherin blazed past his rivals for a comfortable victory in the hands of Tom Eaves, giving the jockey one of the biggest days of his career.
He will now probably try to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Commonwealth Cup winner Shaquille and land the July Cup at his next start.
“He’s a machine. I’m very lucky to be on him….he’s doing nothing wrong and he’s a unit of a horse. Full credit to everybody, ” Eaves said post race.
Insherin will eventually end up in the stallion barn, unlike Calandagan, the impressive winner of the King Edward VII Stakes, often known as the Ascot Derby.
The French raider won effortlessly in the hands of Stephan Pasquier, scoring by six lengths from Space Legend, the Wathnan Racing owned contender.
Ordinarily such a galloper would be aimed at the Arc de Triomphe in October, but the son of Gleneagles cannot be run in that race as he is a gelding.
”It is a shame as he put up an excellent performance and certainly looks a Group 1 performer in the making. I’m very happy with him but I’m just disappointed he lost his balls,” the rider told race broadcaster ITV after he romped home.