St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1)

COROEBUS (Charlie Appleby/Will Buick) became the 16th horse to complete the 2000 Guineas/St James’s Palace Stakes double in the post-war period after a ding-dong tussle with Guineas sixth Lusail (Richard Hannon/Pat Dobbs) in the home straight led to the finish of the day.

Lusail and Aikhal took the field along at a modest gallop, and Coroebus was never too far away, albeit trapped amongst horses on account of his low draw.

Lusail went on in the straight, but kept off the rail as he did so, and that gave Coroebus the escape route he needed.

The son of Dubawi quickened through, but he idled when in front, allowing Lusail to fight back, with both My Prospero and Maljoom in particular finishing fast, so that the first four home were separated by only half a length at the line, with 10/11 favourite Coroebus beating Lusail by a head, with My Prospero a short-head third, and the luckless Maljoom unplaced despite being in front two strides after the line.

Winning trainer Charlie Appleby was a relieved man after the frantic finish, and paid tribute to his colt’s courage. “It was a tough, gritty performance,” said Appleby. “We knew coming into today that it would be a different style of race.

“I just wish the pace had been stronger. William said Coroebus was taking him on the whole way round. Thankfully, the turn allowed him to have a breather.

“I felt it was class and determination which got us over the line there. Going forward, we’ll have discussions, but I think the Sussex Stakes is an option along with the Prix Jacques le Marois.”

Clash

The Sussex Stakes would see a potential clash with Baaeed, and Appleby was hopeful that connections of the two horses would be sporting enough to let the clash go ahead.

“It is always a fantastic race, isn’t it? The Sussex Stakes – the older horses and the three-year-olds taking each other on, and we were confident that we’d hopefully be doing that on the back of today. I think that is still very much in conversation.

“As always we’ll let the dust settle, have discussions with His Highness and the team and we’ll firm those plans up. On the evidence of what I have seen today, Coroebus deserves to be there for sure.

“It is going to be a big learning curve for him today and I was delighted with how he took it in the preliminaries – he has never been more than 20 minutes up the road out of Newmarket. Those challenges have been put upon him and he has ticked the boxes. These are big pluses!”

Buick reflected on conundrum forced on him by the combination of a low draw and a steady pace: “It was one of those races where it was tricky. I had a good draw, but a good draw can turn into a bad draw very quickly. Coroebus travels extremely strongly, and you just want him to drop his head.

“In the straight, I had to go for the rail and there was enough room. I could have come back a stride and gone around them, but when Pat Dobbs went on and didn’t go to the fence, it was a very natural place for me to go.

“Coroebus was brave, has a good turn of foot and a will to win. He has everything you could ask for in a racehorse.”