King George V Stakes

ROYAL Ascot’s most popular domestic winner of the entire week came in the King George V Stakes when Desert Hero narrowly prevailed in a cracking finish to provide The King and Queen with their first victory at the Royal Meeting.

Tom Marquand and William Haggas will go down in the history books as the combination to deliver the notable breakthrough success for the new monarch, and the rider had to be at his brilliant best to pull a success out of the fire at 18/1.

Ridden quietly in a race run at an extremely strong pace, the three-year-old colt by Sea The Stars had to navigate his way through traffic in the straight but was delivered right on time to deny the Joseph O’Brien-trained Valiant King, who didn’t have a straightforward passage at the business end and failed by a head.

Another Irish challenger completed the frame, with Aidan O’Brien’s London Gold Cup winner Bertinelli running well off top-weight to claim third.

“Genuinely, that is one of my proudest moments in the saddle so far,” said an emotional Marquand.

“I grew up watching horses like that win for Her Late Majesty, The Queen, and to ride His Majesty The King’s first Royal Ascot winner is unbelievable. Royal winners at the Royal Meeting are extremely special, especially this one – I think this is a poignant one.

“To be a part of that and for William and Maureen and the whole Somerville Lodge team to bring a horse into the Royal Meeting and to have that perfect prep – it’s an insanely special day that I think will live high in my career, probably at the top, for the rest of my days in the saddle.”

Extremely game

On how the race unfolded, Marquand added: “I wasn’t confident of getting there. I tried to spin out on the final bend and get behind horses I thought would take me there, but they didn’t and I had to go in. This fellow was extremely game.”

The victory meant a 15th winner at the meeting for Haggas, who hailed a “beautiful ride” from Maquand.

“It’s a great honour for all of us, and I’m thrilled The King and Queen were here to witness it,” said the winning trainer.

“They have been looking forward to Royal Ascot for a long time and they hoped to have as many runners as possible. I think they will be absolutely delighted. It’s very important for horse racing, but it’s also important that The King and Queen enjoy it, which they clearly appear to do. Long may that continue.”

Britannia Stakes

ANY fears that Docklands had blown his handicap mark with a 14lb hike for his previous success proved completely unfounded, as the Harry Eustace-trained improver powered home to land the Britannia Stakes under an elated Hayley Turner.

Sent off the 6/1 favourite to make it three wins on the bounce, the OTI Racing-owned three-year-old comfortably had the measure of his rivals on the near side and managed to pick off clear far-side leader New Endeavour in the shadows of the post.

The runner-up, trained by Roger Varian and ridden by David Egan, had been sold to join Gai Waterhouse and the Adrian Bott Syndicate for £260,000 earlier in the week at the Goffs London Sale.

“It was a big performance,” Eustace said of the half-length success, bringing up his second Royal Ascot winner.

“He hinted at his ability last time. Although the [good-to-firm] ground was obviously the biggest query for everybody today, he’s relished it. He’s always been pretty good, and we’ve always liked him, so we did come in full of confidence, although Chasing Aphrodite yesterday [last in the Royal Hunt Cup] just put me back on my haunches a little bit.

“He’ll stay a mile and a quarter in time, when we go that far. We’ll have a chat with connections, but I don’t think there’s any rush at the moment.”

Buckingham Palace Stakes

JAMIE Spencer bridged a five-year gap between Royal Ascot wins when causing a 50/1 shock in the concluding Buckingham Palace Stakes with Witch Hunter for trainer Richard Hannon and owner William Stobart.

Previously 0-10 on turf and typically showing his best on the all-weather, the four-year-old by Siyouni raised his game significantly to get up close home by three quarters of a length.

The victory represented Hannon’s eighth Royal Ascot success and Spencer’s 27th.

“Jamie’s given him a lovely ride – I hate the way he rides, why does he keep doing that to us?” quipped the winning trainer.

“He gave him a super ride and the horse kind of enjoyed that. When he passes one, he gets his momentum. And when they pass him, sometimes he just goes, ‘sod it, I’ll go another day’. He’s a very good horse on his day and I don’t care what price he is.

“William [Stobart] rang me one day and said he’d like to buy a horse to go to Royal Ascot. We got here, 100/1 - no chance - and he looked like he had no chance, sitting last, and he’s gone and won. It does happen to nice people sometimes.”

OISIN Murphy’s disappointing start to the week was made even more frustrating when he was hit with a three-day ban for careless riding on narrow runner-up Valiant King in the King George V Stakes.

It wasn’t plain sailing for the Qatar Racing-owned three-year-old, who had to get out of trouble to deliver his challenge. In doing so, he was deemed to have interfered with eighth-placed Wonder Legend, who in turn impeded the eyecatching seventh Land Legend.

Murphy said: “Valiant King was unlucky not to win. I got stuck in traffic and had to switch inside. It is a brilliant result for His Majesty The King to have a winner with Desert Hero.”

Come the close of play on Thursday, Murphy was 0-14 at the meeting and had rattled the crossbar with further seconds in the Gold Cup on Coltrane and Queen’s Vase on Saint George.

There also was a sting in the tail for Buckingham Palace Stakes-winning jockey Jamie Spencer, who picked up a two-day careless riding suspension on Witch Hunter.

The stewards ruled that he had allowed his mount to shift right-handed for a number of strides without timely correction, taking the second and third, Croupier and Northern Express, off their intended lines shortly before the finish.