Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Group 1)

AIDAN O’Brien reached a remarkable landmark on Wednesday as the victory of 13/8 favourite Auguste Rodin (Ryan Moore) in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes took the Ballydoyle maestro to 400 career Group 1 wins.

Auguste Rodin was always front rank as pacemakers Snobbish (for Blue Rose Cen) and Hans Anderson did their job in front.

In truth, the pace wasn’t strong after the initial rush leading to some jostling behind, and second favourite Inspiral was poorly positioned after a slow start forced her into waiting tactics. She latched on to the leaders in the straight but failed to see out the trip.

Royal Rhyme led briefly in the straight, but the winner forged on over a furlong out before idling. He faced challenges from the French-trained pair Zarakem and Horizon Dore but found more when challenged and won with a bit more in hand than the official margin of three-quarters of a length over Zarakem, who held Horizon Dore by a length for minor honours.

This was Auguste Rodin’s sixth win in Group 1 company while he was O’Brien’s fifth winner of the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, equalling the achievements of Sir Henry Cecil and John Gosden.

O’Brien said: “I am so delighted for everybody, especially the lads – they make it happen. There’s so many people I don’t mention every day, and I am so grateful to them all for making this happen.

Special horse

“Auguste Rodin is a very special horse. He gets a mile and a half very well. We were riding him too far back and if there was no pace, he was too far out of the race, so we changed everything.

“Ryan said he was going to ride him positive, engage him straight away – he’ll get up there and cruise off any pace. He is very straightforward.

“I feel the blips were my fault, the instructions were wrong, and it took us to this time to start getting it right. We saw today that when he gets to the front, he waits, and then he goes again, and that’s what makes him very good. He’s very special really and Ryan gave him a very special ride.

“The great thing about him is now we see that he’s very happy to be ridden forwards, we were probably riding him back too far and not giving him a chance.

“It’s dependent on what the lads want to do. Whether he goes to America, whether he stays around here. I think now we are more confident that we have worked him out.”

Moore said: “Auguste Rodin is a proper horse. He is a Group 1 winner at two, he won four Group 1s last year; people are always very quick to knock horses - as soon as they get beat, they want to have a go at you. Every time you send them away, they have a pop at that as well.

“He took me there going very well, and when I asked him, he really showed great courage. He wanted to win. He has been a real good horse and did everything beautifully today – he deserved that.”

Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2)

THE Emir of Qatar has a burgeoning racing string under the Wathnan Racing banner, and after hitting the bar several times on the opening day, the peacock-blue and gold silks were seen to winning effect as the Karl Burke-trained Leovanni (James Doyle) raced to victory in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes over five furlongs.

The 22/1 shot broke alertly and was always prominent in a group which raced on the far side of the track, as was her stablemate Miss Lamai towards the centre, with Leovanni picking up smartly for pressure to come clear in the final furlong.

Mighty Eriu (Gavin Cromwell) finished best of the rest for second, with another 50/1 shot Maw Lam (Adrian Nicholls/Hollie Doyle) grabbing third from the same owner’s Miss Lamai in fourth. Kassaya, the 7/2 favourite, finished out of the frame having been denied a run.

Richard Brown bought the winning filly for £190,000 at Goffs Breeze-Up Sale in Doncaster and she made a winning debut for Burke at Nottingham a fortnight ago.

Relaxed

Burke said: “For a breeze-up two-year-old she’s unbelievable - so relaxed - and that’s all credit going forward; that will be a great help to her. Richard Brown and the team have done fantastically well. I know they’ve paid a lot of money so to get one result is great, and hopefully this is not the last of the meeting.”

Doyle, retained rider to racing’s newest superpower, said: “We know there’s a lot of work that’s been put in behind the scenes at Wathnan Racing to get a select group of horses that are targeted for this meeting, so the pressure is on to perform. To get a winner early on in the week can only help.

“This is hopefully the start of a very long and enjoyable experience. It’s very early days in Wathnan Racing, but I think you’ve seen by the amount that they have invested and the interest they’ve shown since last year, it’s just nice to be a part of that at such an early stage of this journey.

“I had the choice of three in the Coventry Stakes and the one I picked finished out the back, whereas the other two just got beat. It’s very difficult to make choices and thankfully I didn’t have to choose between two in this race!

Queen’s Vase (Group 2)

THE Group 2 Queen’s Vase has become an important trial for the St Leger since being shortened in trip to mile and three-quarters and upgraded from listed status, and Aidan O’Brien set down a significant market for the final classic by sending out Illinois (Ryan Moore) to win the contest by a length and a quarter from stablemate Highbury (Wayne Lordan), with both horses looking worthy contenders for Doncaster.

Illinois, a half-brother to King George and ‘Arc’ heroine Danedream, had been runner-up to Derby second Ambiente Friendly at Lingfield, and with Moore choosing him over Highbury, punters were encouraged to support him into favouritism at 7/4. He pressed Derby also-ran Mr Hampstead before being sent on at the home turn, and was always holding Highbury for all he wandered quite badly off the inside rail in the latter stages.

Birdman (Jessica Harrington/Shane Foley) didn’t get the clearest of runs in the straight, but stayed on for third, two lengths adrift of Illinois. The winner – who was providing Ryan Moore with an 80th Royal Ascot winner - set a new course record over the little-used mile and three quarter trip of 3m 5.7secs.

O’Brien, saddling his eighth winner of the Queen’s Vase, said: “Ryan made the decision to ride Illinois, and he had the choice of the King Edward VII Stakes or this race. When Diego Velazquez got routed to the King Edward, this horse got rerouted to here. He is obviously a St Leger-type horse and is going to improve from three to four.

“We will probably take our time with Illinois and let him have the chance to develop the way he wants to. Because City Of Troy was there, we were able to lay off those type of horses and give them a chance to mature.

“That’s what he is, he’s going to be a mile-and-a-half, mile-and-six horse and he’s going to get better from three to four. He is a bit of a baby mentally still, so he might have a little rest now and maybe go to York on the way to the Leger.”

“Highbury is only a baby. Wayne said he was very babyish through the race and will have come on a lot. He’s probably a nice horse as well, probably a Leger-type horse.”

Duke Of Cambridge Stakes (Group 2)

THE Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes went the way of John and Thady Gosden’s Running Lion who was given an attacking ride by Oisin Murphy to beat stable-companion Laurel (Ryan Moore) and Doom (William Haggas/Tom Marquand) by two lengths and the same in a race run on the round course for the first time.

The 6/1 winner had enjoyed no luck at all when held up in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom on her previous start, and Murphy decided to let her stride on from a wide draw here, leading after a furlong and gradually winding things up.

Laurel ran well for second considering she had been off the track for over a year prior to this return, and she wasn’t given a hard time when her chance had gone. Favourite Rogue Millennium, who won the race last year when it was run on the straight track, was underwhelming.

Winning owner David Howden also bred Running Lion in partnership with David Redvers at Tweenhills Stud and is an official partner at Ascot under the banner of his Howden Insurance company.

John Gosden said: “Running Lion has been unlucky. She moved a bit soon in the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket and then got boxed in at Epsom. The second filly Laurel has run a brilliant race. She has been off for 13 months, so she’s run an absolute blinder from the inside and Ryan’s very happy with her.”

NO prizes for guessing that Wednesday’s highlight came in the feature Prince of Wales’s Stakes, especially if you knew Aidan O’Brien was sitting on 399 global Group 1 wins going into the race. He won it with a horse who encapsulates all that is good about the Master of Ballydoyle. Like O’Brien, Auguste Rodin has had to bounce back a few times, but every time the vultures have circled, he’s proven rumours of his demise wide of the mark.

There can be no higher praise of a horse of O’Brien’s than that he gets Ryan Moore animated, and while Ryan isn’t one to shout from the rooftops, you could tell in his understated manner that this win, and this horse, meant a lot to the jockey.

“People are always quick to knock,” said Moore, and while he was talking predominantly about the public reaction when a well-regarded horse is beaten, his words were equally true about those who criticise jockeys like him and trainers like O’Brien on the back of a short run of poor results.

Misguided

The doubters rarely hold their hands up and never say sorry, even when misguided criticism cuts deep, but Moore and O’Brien let the horses do the talking, and Auguste Rodin spoke like Muhammad Ali.

The dual Derby winner, like his boxing counterpart, has endured heavy defeats, but has come back stronger each time, and his current record of six Group 1 wins is the mark of a champion, and one with plenty more to achieve, if little more to prove.

He might have looked in trouble as the French pair closed ominously at Ascot, but Ali aficionados weren’t worried. The champ was just playing rope-a-dope.