Ben Linfoot picks out three points of interest from day four of Royal Ascot after a turn-up in the Coronation Stakes.
Even when Aidan doesn’t win he wins…
It looked a winnable Coronation Stakes without Guineas winners Desert Flower and Lake Victoria. But while the market cornered on the promoted French Guineas heroine Zarigana, it was a filly who came out of Lake Victoria’s shadow that landed the spoils.
Joe Murphy’s Cercene. His first Royal Ascot winner since he took out his licence in 1977. And she showed real guts to battle back once headed by Zarigana to get the job done under Gary Carroll at 33/1.
Things panned out very nicely for her. The supplemented Falakeyah was far too keen drawn next door and she pulled her way to the front under Jim Crowley, refusing to settle, her chance gone in the first quarter mile.
Cercene was in her slipstream, travelling well, and as they turned for home she was in the box seat, Carroll angling her out around Exactly with a smooth manoeuvre that saw her have a couple of lengths on Zarigana with two furlongs to run.
Zarigana travelled away under Mickael Barzalona and she traded at 1/8 in-running on Betfair when hitting the front inside the final furlong, but Cercene battled hard on the inside, getting back up to prevail by half a length.
Is Zarigana a bit soft? Did Cercene, a daughter of Australia, outstay her in the final half furlong? Was this more of a pointer to the talents of Aidan O’Brien’s Lake Victoria, who beat the winner four lengths in the Irish 1,000 Guineas?
The answer to all of those is probably yes. But Murphy, the latest member of the Royal Ascot winners’ club, won’t care one jot...
Eustace outshines big guns with Sandals
…because it’s not easy to win at Royal Ascot.
Just ask Charlie Appleby. The Godolphin number one has watched the famous royal blue silks roar to glory for John & Thady Gosden and Saeed bin Suroor this week, but Shadow Of Light’s reverse in the Commonwealth Cup extended his losing streak at the meeting to 36, since Naval Crown won in 2022.
For Ger Lyons the losing streak is 23 – but that stretches back over 18 years – his Babouche racing inefficiently in the same race as she pulled too hard in the early stages under Colin Keane, resulting in a 20th place finish.
Shadow Of Light, the well-backed 6/4 favourite, dropping back from the Guineas trip of a mile, couldn’t cope with the test of speed and nor could Jonquil, second to Henri Matisse in the French Guineas. Shadow Of Light could only manage fifth, Jonquil 13th, as raw pace prevailed.
In contrast to Appleby and Lyons, Harry Eustace can’t stop training Royal Ascot winners. He’s been in the game three years and he’s trained four winners at the meeting from just 12 runners, an astounding achievement, his Time For Sandals landing the Commonwealth Cup on her sixth career start only three days after Docklands secured the fledgling trainer his first Group 1 success.
Brazen speed won the day for Time For Sandals. She got a beautiful tow into the contest from stall one on the far side by the American filly Shisospicy and she was last off the bridle, Richard Kingscote delaying asking for her full effort until inside the final furlong.
She pulled five lengths clear of her nearest challenger on the far side, a mighty effort, even if the official verdict sees her just a neck in front of near side ‘winner’ Arizona Blaze at the line.
It’s not easy to win at Royal Ascot. Eustace’s Group 1 double was remarkable.
Not straight-forward
The Ascot straight track. An almighty puzzle with the big fields at the best of times. At least with the ground fast and the weather set fair you would think a pattern would emerge throughout the week.
Tuesday to Thursday that was the case. You wanted to be stands’ side and even those drawn low on the far side were making their way over to join the bigger group. Infuriatingly so, at times, as it would’ve been nice to know what would’ve happened had some of them simply run in a straight line.
On Friday we got to find out. Stall one won the Albany. Stall one won the Commonwealth Cup. By the time they ran the Sandringham the near-side group peeled as one into the middle of the track. Four horses stayed over the far side from the low numbers and Never Let Go, from stall two under Kieran Shoemark, landed the spoils.
Cajole was second from stall six. Saffie Osborne, a beautiful rider on the straight track, traversed over to the larger stands' side group that ended up down the middle, before drifting back over to the far side. Miss Nightfall, who looked to have the plum draw in stall 28 just 24 hours ago, ended up with a monumental task and needs seriously marking up after winning her group and finishing sixth overall.
So where do you want to be in the Jubilee and the Wokingham on Saturday?
I’ve absolutely no idea. But the far-side horses look to have a better chance now than they did after day three. Especially if they stay on a straight line and have pace to aim at.
Day 3 Analysis: Charles Darwin, Merchant and Trawlerman
Day 2 Analysis: Ombudsman, Crimson Advocate and Rahieeb
Day 1 Analysis: Field Of Gold, Gstaad and Docklands
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