St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1)

HE may have suffered a controversial defeat in the 2000 Guineas, but Field Of Gold (John & Thady Gosden/Colin Keane) is clearly the best three-year-old miler around in Europe and underlined that fact by adding the St James’s Palace Stakes to his CV, to go with his wins in the Craven Stakes and the Irish 2000 Guineas.

Sent off favourite at 8/11, the son of Kingman was better than ever as he swept past from off the pace to beat Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Henri Matisse (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) by a comfortable three and a half lengths, with Newmarket Guineas winner Ruling Court (Charlie Appleby/William Buick) left toiling another three and three-quarter lengths away in third.

Like Field Of Gold, Kingman was beaten in the 2000 Guineas before winning at the Curragh and in this race and added wins in the Sussex Stakes and the Prix Jacques Marois. Those races must be on John Gosden’s mind as he and son Thady plot a triumphant campaign for their latest superstar.

John Gosden said: “That was a great performance. Oisin [riding Juddmonte pacemaker Windlord] did a nice job setting an even pace. Colin had a lot of horse and, for a second, I thought ‘we’ve gone a bit soon’. I didn’t watch him, I looked back - you always have to look back for the dangers - and fortunately, none was coming.

Mistake

“Field Of Gold had always impressed as a two-year-old, but he was a big boy and slightly outgrew himself. We ran him in France, which was a mistake; he was too free in front and didn’t finish off. We should have run him in the Dewhurst; I regret that.

“Then this year, he has been exemplary in everything he has done. He is a pleasure to train because he’s a pretty laid-back character, which is very useful. It was never the plan to go to Ireland, it became the plan, so he’s had a trial, two ‘Guineas’ and this. It’s a lot of racing and we’re not even halfway through the season.

“Maybe we will freshen and go to the Sussex. I think if he hadn’t run in Ireland, I would have probably been keen to go to the Eclipse. But when they win like that, they make it look easy, but they are taking a lot out of themselves, so I wouldn’t want to be seen as someone trying to run him back in the Eclipse quick off this.”

Colin Keane was riding his first Group 1 winner since recently taking up the mantle as retained jockey for Juddmonte Farms and said: “Good horses make it look easy.

“It was a very good renewal of the race. I don’t know when the last time three Guineas winners clashed, but Field Of Gold was very good at the Curragh and very good again today.

Tough and genuine

“I thought Ryan was always going to be behind us somewhere. If anything, the leaders probably didn’t bring us far enough and we got there plenty soon, but he’s tough and genuine.

“I am fortunate enough to be riding him, and, at this moment, he is the best horse I have sat on. I am in a very privileged position. I have been lucky enough to join this team. It is a very new relationship and to get a horse like him so early on is amazing. I’ve had nothing compared to this in recent years, so it’s a very special day.”

Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1)

THE 2024 Queen Anne runner-up Docklands (Harry Eustace/Mark Zahra) gained a second Royal Ascot success to add to his 2023 Britannia Stakes when landing Tuesday’s Group 1 opener in a tight finish with favourite Rosallion (Richard Hannon/Sean Levey), giving his Australian rider a first Royal Ascot winner and his trainer a third, and his first at Group 1 level.

A 14/1 chance, Docklands battled to beat Rosallion by a nose, with outsider Cairo (Alice Haynes/Silvestre de Sousa) a length and three-quarters behind in third.

The pace set by Quddwah wasn’t strong, but the principals all came from off the pace, with the winner making up for a luckless run when second in the Diomed Stakes at Epsom on Derby Day.

Eustace said: “I have lost my voice, I am afraid; that was pretty sweet. It was tough watching, and the photo was tough. I wasn’t happy with the pace early on; Docklands did his usual thing, just stepped slow and I was cursing him to be honest, but he is an absolute star.

“He has been an absolute legend for us and, if ever there was a track where you’d want a horse that’s a specialist, it’s here because it has the best racing. At about the furlong marker, I thought Rosallion was really coming at us, but God he was so brave that last furlong. He has been frustrating, but only because I feel he deserves to have won the odd race more than he has.

Spot on

“He got trapped in a pocket and didn’t have a hard race at Epsom, and it probably just put him spot on. You have multiple Group 1 winners in there, Guineas winners from last year, and we’re the most exposed horse, but he loves the track which is a big plus.

“The work and the effort that everyone at home puts into our horses, that is the reason we are here, and I can’t thank them enough. More importantly, I can’t thank Terry [Henderson] and OTI enough.

“They got offered a huge amount of money after he won the Britannia, but they wanted to enjoy a good racehorse and roll the dice, and thankfully it has paid off.

Mark Zahra’s first response to questions was to joke about losing his stick, but went on to say: “I got room at the right time and Docklands burst through and kept responding, kept responding. What an amazing feeling - unbelievable. I have to thank the boys that put me on him - one of the top days of my career for sure.

“Hearing all the Aussies over the fence, even though the horse is English, you’d have thought he was Aussie.

“Harry has been pumping me up the whole way. This just started as a stop-off on the way to a trip to Ibiza, so to turn into a massive win like this is very special. The closer we got, the more Harry filled me with confidence, and he was right.

Coventry Stakes (Group 2)

GSTAAD (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) looked a class apart as he dominated the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, the 5/2 favourite winning by three lengths and a neck from outsiders Do Or Do Not (Ed Walker/Tom Marquand) and Coppull (Clive Cox/David Probert).

Winner of a Navan maiden on debut when beating stablemate True Love, Gstaad was much improved for that experience and the son of 2010 Golden Jubilee hero Starspangledbanner emulated his sire with his own Royal Ascot success over six furlongs.

Coppull set the early pace on the near side of the track while Kolkata Knight dragged the field along on the far side, but while the far side appeared to have the advantage at halfway, it was the high draws who had the best of it in the end, with Gstaad tracking the pace before being pulled around horses to lead two furlongs out, racing clear towards the centre of the track and soon in no danger, while the placed pair kept on in vain pursuit.

This was an 11th success in the contest for Aidan O’Brien, and the trainer was impressed by what he saw, saying: “I am absolutely delighted. Gstaad looks a very good horse, doesn’t he? We have always loved him. He had only had the one run, but he has always worked like a good horse.

“He is big, scopey, has a good stride and is very genuine; he goes with his head down and he has loads of speed. He looks like he will get further than six furlongs.

“Ryan let him find himself in the first half and then he came home very well. I was surprised tacking up how big he is. He got the trip very well, so I am delighted for everyone.”

King Charles III Stakes (Group 1)

THE Group 1 King Charles III Stakes proved a thrilling spectacle as always, with the strong pace setting things up for the confirmed hold-up performer American Affair (Jim Goldie/Paul Mulrennan), who scored at 11/1 in a race where the first four home came from adjoining stalls towards the stands side of the track.

American Affair, wearing a red hood for the preliminaries for the first time, came through late in his customary style and held off the rally of Frost At Dawn (William Knight/Mickael Barzalona) to win by a neck, with early leader Regional (Ed Bethell/Callum Rodriguez) keeping on well for third, a length further away.

The 2024 winner Asfoora had every chance, eventually dead-heating for fifth with Kerdos, who fared best of those drawn low.

Goldie said: “I have trained the family for three generations, so it’s very sweet. This horse’s grandfather had his day here [Orientor won the 2001 Shergar Cup Sprint], so we’re pretty lucky that we can breed horses like that.

“American Affair is just getting faster. We went seven furlongs at Wetherby in his maiden, but we took him back to five and he is just getting better and better.

“I was quite confident he could do it today. He has the talent. I knew he was probably one of the fastest horses in the race, but it’s how you control that. We’ve come down a day early, got him relaxed and it all fell into place.”

FEW racedays in Britain can claim to start with the sort of bang we get at Royal Ascot, with three enthralling Group 1 contests within a couple of hours, as well as the best juvenile event at the meeting and those races rarely fail to deliver.

The fairly sedate pace set in the Queen Anne Stakes perhaps lulled some of us into false sense that this might be a low-key affair, but the screams that ran out in support of Docklands as he gave Australian syndicate OTI Racing and Harry Eustace victory in the Queen Anne proved fairly quickly that Royal Ascot would again be a full-throated affair, despite the regal setting.

Docklands set the tone for the day, providing leading Aussie rider Mark Zahra with a first win at the meeting with his first ride, and that despite being one of a couple of jockeys in the race to drop his whip, joking afterwards that he was so scared of breaking the whip rules that he thought it would be easier throwing his stick away!

If the feel-good factor was heavily in evidence after the Queen Anne, the needle was turned to 11 after the victory of the unfashionably-bred American Affair in the King Charles III Stakes.

Challenge

American Affair’s maternal grandsire Orientor was also trained by Jim Goldie and progressed through handicaps to win group races a quarter of a century ago, while his dam Classy Anne was a six-time winner in sprint races north of the border for Goldie in the colours of Barraston Racing, who own American Affair in partnership with the affable Goldie, who is looking forward to the challenge of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at the end of the year, the gelding now qualified for that contest by winning on Tuesday.

Star of the show, without doubt, was St James’s Palace winner Field Of Gold, who emulated his sire Kingman by winning here on the back of victory in the Irish 2000 Guineas, with both horses avenging defeat in the Newmarket equivalent when favourite.

Field Of Gold was even more impressive here than Kingman was when beating Night Of Thunder in 2014, and the Eclipse was mooted as a possible target at one point for the winner; it seems more likely now that he will head to Goodwood and continue to walk in his illustrious father’s footprints.

Field Of Gold was also providing Colin Keane with the perfect start to his tenure as Juddmonte’s retained jockey and, while that job comes with pressure to match the glory, Keane has all the attributes to continue his perfect start.