Accomplished stayer Illinois (7/4F) provided Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore with their seventh wins of the meeting in the closing Queen Alexandra Stakes.
Runner-up to Trawlerman in the Gold Cup last year, Illinois was the highest-rated contender in the field and took control off the home turn, ultimately fending off last year’s Copper Horse Stakes winner French Master (9/1) by a neck. Mr Holywood (16/1) fared best of Willie Mullins’ three runners in third.
It was a quick turnaround from Illinois, who never looked happy when finishing last in the Coronation Cup 14 days ago.
O’Brien said: “What can I say? An incredible week and Ryan gave this horse an incredible ride. Illinois is a brave horse. We felt that we just maybe used him too much the last day, but he was second in the Gold Cup last year – he was the class horse, was he not?
“It’s lovely for him to win again because he has been working hard all year. He is a lovely, kind horse. Epsom, soft ground and he went forward, it was tough. He loves fast ground. His run in the Gold Cup last year – there was nothing of the class of that in this.
“He got a little bit lonely in front today. He has plenty of class over this distance. I would say he would go wherever Scandinavia does not in these distance races. I think anything from a mile and six furlongs upwards he is happy with. He is a lovely, sound, genuine horse, and I think we can win again with him.”
Moore said: “Illinois is a lovely horse. He is high class and it is very rare for him to run a bad race. He was second in a Gold Cup, second in a Goodwood Cup. It was bad ground at Epsom, that’s all that was. He obviously didn’t take anything out of himself and had a class edge on these.
“He was a bit idle in front but, when I asked him in the last furlong, he got to the fence and went away. He is one of the last Galileos, a tough horse.”
Thady Gosden said of French Master: “He has run a very nice race on his first run over an extreme trip. He settled well out the back and he picked up well in the straight, but of course Illinois is proven over a similar trip at Group 1 level. To run so close to him off level weights was fantastic, and I’m sure French Master will hopefully find opportunities over similar distances. The Goodwood Cup would be a possibility, but we’ll see how he comes out of this.”