Ten Bob Tony became the longest-priced winner of the G1 Queen Anne Stakes since Garrick in 1950 as he caused a 50/1 shock in the Royal Ascot curtain raiser.
Although unconsidered in the betting having done much of his racing over shorter, Ed Walker’s runner arrived on the back of a head success in the G3 Tattenham Corner Stakes at Epsom Downs.
Stepping up to a mile, his jockey Kieran Shoemark wanted nothing to do with the strong early fractions set by Opera Ballo and settled the five-year-old in rear of the nine runners.
Ten Bob Tony made headway on the stands’ side of the group to challenge Opera Ballo inside the furlong marker, with More Thunder challenging on the far side. The trio battled towards the line, with Ten Bob Tony prevailing by half a length from More Thunder.
G1 Lockinge Stakes winner Notable Speech, sent off the 9/4 favourite, failed to show his best form in this race for the second year running and finished sixth.
Walker said: “It is just an amazing story. Ten Bob Tony was Simon Sadler’s first-ever horse and now he’s got more than 50 in training worldwide. Ten Bob Tony won a Group Three 10 days ago and then turned up here and did that. Kieran gave him an absolute peach of a ride and was very, very patient. The miracle happened.
“We agreed we’d sit last and try to pass as many as we could in the final furlong. It is beautiful ground out there. I always think at Ascot you can get away with horses that need a bit of dig on the straight course. Chris does such an amazing job that it’s like a carpet out there, so it’s very forgiving quick ground. I was confident when I walked it that the horse would enjoy it.
“This horse is just a legend. What’s been the key? He’s simply a really solid horse. We rode him cold and, as can happen here at Ascot, it all fell apart in the final furlong. Kieran didn’t commit him too early and saved him for the finish. He’s a super-kind horse — just a legend.
Asked if the G1 Prix de la Foret would be Ten Bob Tony’s target, Walker added: “That’s exactly what we thought after Epsom – to return to France for the Foret. Then we started thinking about what we’d do between now and the Foret, and as we were already in this race, we thought we’d have a go. You can’t win sitting at home.
“You come into a week like this, and I think we’ll probably have around 15 runners. I thought if we could get one winner it would be amazing, so to get the first one on the board – and in a Group 1 – is massive.
“We’ve got a good team, but it’s so tough, and that’s what makes this so special.”
Shoemark said: “Obviously, they were different conditions to Epsom – the ground was much quicker and it was a step up to a mile – but Ten Bob Tony is a good horse. He has finished third in a Foret and has Group One form.
“He travelled into it so easily and I didn’t think we were going that quick either, so it didn’t feel like there was a pace collapse. He really did cruise into it; he is a pretty smart horse.
“He is clearly thriving. I thought his run at Epsom was pretty good, but he’s obviously taken another step forward and is in a good frame of mind. He has danced a lot of dances, but he’s turned up when it mattered.
“This is massive. I appreciate the magnitude of Royal Ascot and to win a Group 1 in the first race on the first day certainly takes the pressure off. Ultimately, it’s extremely special and I feel very fortunate to be part of that team. Ed Walker and his team do a superb job. They prep these horses amazingly and there’s a lot of good ones there.
“We thought Ten Bob Tony wanted easy ground, but it is genuine Good to Firm.”
Winning owner Simon Sadler said: “This horse is named after my dad. That was his nickname because he used to run a 50p – or 10 bob – stall on the market in Blackpool. Dad’s not here today as he’s not in the best of health, but I’m sure he watched it and I’d bet he had more on the horse than I did!
“I am blown away. I am shaking. There are tears running down my face. Never in a million years did we think this would happen. It was an amazing ride. Now Ed’s going to be in a lot of trouble because we probably should have been running him over a mile for the past two years rather than seven furlongs!”
More Thunder’s trainer William Haggas said: “Frustrating, but there we go. We ran a very good race and, to be fair, I probably would have taken second place this morning, but we always like to win. Full credit to Ed. I don’t know where he’s sprung that one from, but there we are. The first thing I thought was, ‘Crikey, maybe More Thunder might get a mile and a quarter now!’“
Charlie Appleby said of Opera Ballo and Notable Speech: “As Billy [Loughnane] said, there’s a headwind out there and it’s tough to do what we tried to do. He said the horse jumped a little keen for the first two furlongs before getting into a nice rhythm. He felt he was breathing well and doing everything right, but it was always going to be difficult into that headwind.
“To be fair to him, he stuck at it. We know what this horse wants – the Sussex is tailor-made for him and we’ve always felt that was the case. But we had to come here and let him take his chance and, at the end of the day, he’s run a creditable race to finish third.”
He added: “They’ve gone hard and Ten Bob was sitting stone-cold last. He looked like a fresh pair of legs when he joined in at the two-furlong pole.
“As for Notable Speech, I’m afraid you’ve got to say it’s something to do with Ascot. He just doesn’t seem to turn up here as the same horse. We know what he can do – normally William is sitting still from the three to the one-pole but he was asking the horse to try and pick up two furlongs out today, which is never a good sign. He just doesn’t turn up here, so we will probably head to France for the Prix Jacques Le Marois before his usual travels to North America.”
Billy Loughnane, rider of Opera Ballo, said: “Super run from Opera Ballo. It is a stiff mile here and there is a headwind on the track. I was into that for a lot of the race, but he is very tough and stayed on.”