Queen Mary Stakes

(Group 2)

PERHAPS Coolmore’s American challenger Acapulco would have started 5/2 favourite for the Queen Mary anyway, or maybe plenty of people took the trouble to study her in the parade ring.

They would have seen a veritable giant, a hugely powerful, impressive filly who simply dwarfed the opposition.

She dwarfed them in the race, as well. She could almost certainly have made all but Ryan Moore thinks everything through and was content to match strides with Rah Rah towards the near side before pressing on with two furlongs to travel.

With her enormous, raking stride, Acapulco surged clear with northern challenger Easton Angel coming through for second on the opposite wing, followed by Besharah. The margin at the line was a length and a half but Acapulco was value for further.

Trainer Wesley Ward was making it five Royal Ascot victories, all with juveniles. Very bullish before this week’s race, a piece of work at Keeneland racecourse had convinced him the daughter of Scat Daddy was far better on turf than dirt.

The owners are Gay Smith, Doreen Tabor and Sue Magnier and there must surely be a chance that Acapulco will ‘commute’ over again for the Nunthorpe at York, sponsored by Coolmore. For his part, Ward wants to see more American raiders at Ascot.

“We have some fantastic horsemen over there who have some really fast two-year-olds. Hopefully this will inspire them to come to this fantastic meeting,” he said.

Michael Dods was thrilled with Easton Angel, who did her level best to make up for Mecca’s Angel’s absence from the King’s Stand on Tuesday. She was simply unlucky to bump into an opponent who looked different class.