QUEEN MARY STAKES

(GROUP 2)

WESLEY Ward has brought some very fast horses to this meeting but perhaps none swifter than Lady Aurelia, who laughed at the opposition in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes and bolted in by seven lengths.

Sent off at 2/1 favourite, the daughter of Scat Daddy (also responsible for Caravaggio) was quickly away for Frankie Dettori and soon set up a very handy lead. Some American raiders feel the strain late in the piece but she never wavered and came home in splendid isolation, seven lengths ahead of French filly Al Johrah, with northern challenger Clem Fandango a creditable third.

Few in the packed stands had seen anything like it. Lady Aurelia had broken the course record over 4.5 furlongs on fast dirt at Keeneland on her debut and the totally contrasting surface here made no difference at all.

“It was breathtaking,” Dettori said.

“To win a sprint at Royal Ascot by seven lengths, I’ve never felt anything like it in my life. It was stunning.”

Maybe the ground had dried out slightly but it was still officially soft when Lady Aurelia lined up. She then covered the five furlongs in a time more than two seconds faster than older sprinter Profitable in the King’s Stand on the opening day. She was Ward’s seventh winner at the royal meeting.

“It was an amazing run,” he said with a smile. “She’s very sound and there should be big things to come.”

However, one of those ‘big things’ may not be the Nunthorpe at York. Stable-companion Acapulco, who also won the Queen Mary, finished runner-up to Mecca’s Angel in the York feature last year but went home between times. Ward is thinking of leaving Lady Aurelia in Britain to contest the Molecomb at Goodwood, with the Prix Morny also on the agenda. But Ascot is almost like a spiritual home.

“I shall keep coming back until all my hair falls out. There is nothing like this place - it stands above everything,” he said.