“I’m just lucky to be here, first and foremost, and luckily the cards have fallen my way. I’m very thankful for that.”
Starting with Nature Strip, carried on by the reigning Cox Plate winner and capped by three wins in the week for Hall of Fame jockey James McDonald, there was an Australasian flavour throughout Royal Ascot 2022.
Nature Strip’s four-and-a-half-length demolition of the Gr. 1 King’s Stand Stakes was among the most dominant performances of the star-studded week, and it provided an electrifying start on the opening afternoon of the five-day festival.
It may have been a decade since Black Caviar became the seventh and most recent Australian raider to win one of Royal Ascot’s sprint features, but if anyone had taken that as an indication that the standing of Australia’s sprinters on the world stage had somehow diminished, Nature Strip set them straight in style. The King’s Stand was the 21st win in a 38-start career for the Nicconi gelding, and among the most emphatic.
The champion chestnut brought a long-term plan to brilliant fruition for the expat New Zealand trainer-jockey combination of Chris Waller and James McDonald. That was the first of three wins for the week for McDonald, who also won the Royal Hunt Cup on Dark Shift (by Dark Angel) and the Golden Gates Stakes aboard Missed The Cut (Quality Road).
“It’s fantastic,” McDonald said. “I’m just lucky to be here, first and foremost, and luckily the cards have fallen my way. I’m very thankful for that.”
Waller and McDonald had hoped for a dream double for the week, with another electrifying sprinting talent stepping out as favourite for the Gr. 1 Platinum Jubilee Stakes on the final day – three-year-old colt Home Affairs.
Racing in the colours of Coolmore and part-owned by Sir Peter Vela, the son of I Am Invincible had already won twice at Group One level this season, capturing the Coolmore Stud Stakes and Lightning Stakes along Flemington’s famous Straight Six course.
But after being prominently positioned in the Platinum Jubilee, Home Affairs faded out of contention through the final stages. It has since been reported that he pulled up sore behind and is now likely to be retired to Coolmore Stud.
The other Australian runner in the Platinum Jubilee field was last year’s Blue Diamond winner Artorius (Flying Artie), who charged home for an unlucky third and is likely to be aimed at the next big sprint on the European summer schedule, the Gr. 1 July Cup at Newmarket.
The first two placings were both filled by Charlie Appleby-trained runners in the Godolphin blue, with Naval Crown edging out Creative Force by a neck in a stirring finish. Both are sons of the influential stallion Dubawi, whose influence in New Zealand is best known through former Westbury Stud shuttle Makfi and current Little Avondale shuttle Time Test.
Another notable result for our part of the world came in the Gr. 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, which was memorably won by Kiwi-bred champion So You Think in 2012. That made him the first Cox Plate winner to win the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, but now, a decade later, that club has its second member.
Already a Group One winner in three other countries – the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, the Saratoga Derby in upstate New York and the Prix Ganay at Longchamp – the Joseph O’Brien-trained State Of Rest added one of Royal Ascot’s centrepieces to his global trophy cabinet with a bold front-running performance.
The first ever Royal Ascot winner for little-known Irish jockey Shane Crosse, State Of Rest was sent straight to the front of the small field and never gave the others a look-in. He kept up a strong gallop all the way to the finish, holding out the late-finishing Bay Bridge by a length.
State Of Rest has now had 12 starts for five wins and four placings, and he is likely to return to Melbourne in the spring for an attempted defence of his Cox Plate title. After such a desperate duel with star three-year-old Anamoe last year, their potential rematch is a mouth-watering prospect.
State Of Rest is now raced by the State Of Rest Partnership, headed by prominent Australian stud farm Newgate Farm and including former Blandford Lodge partners Graham and Helen-Gaye Bax and Lib Petagna. The son of Starspangledbanner is set to take up duties at the completion of his globetrotting racing career.
It was largely a week to forget for Frankie Dettori, who was surprisingly beaten aboard a number of short-priced prospects, including fan favourite Stradivarius (Sea The Stars) in the gruelling Gr. 1 Gold Cup.
Bidding to join Yeats as only the second four-time winner of the 4000-metre test, Stradivarius was handily placed in midfield along the rail, but was squeezed back through the field coming up to the home turn. Dettori had to navigate his way around the backs of several rivals to find clear air in the straight.
Stradivarius worked home strongly through the final stages but it was too little and too late, finishing a close third behind Kyprios (Galileo) and Mojo Star (Sea The Stars).
An eighth Gold Cup winner for trainer Aidan O’Brien, Kyprios is out of the remarkable broodmare Polished Gem (by Danehill) – also the dam of fellow Group One winners Free Eagle and Search For A Song, Group Two winners Sapphire and Custom Cut, Group Three winner Valac and Listed winners Falcon Eight and Amma Grace.
Dettori found redemption 24 hours after his horror Gold Cup, partnering the impressive and unbeaten Inspiral in the Gr. 1 Coronation Stakes. That result was never in doubt as Dettori timed his run to perfection, easing off the brakes in the straight and allowing Inspiral to bound clear, winning by four and three-quarter lengths.
“I’ve had a tough week, but racing is like that sometimes, and now this filly has put a smile on our face,” 51-year-old Dettori said.
Now the winner of all of her five career starts, Inspiral is by Frankel out of the Selkirk mare Starscope, who herself ran second in the Coronation Stakes in 2012.
Other notable results during Royal Ascot week included the impressive two-year-old filly Dramatised, who won the Gr. 2 Queen Mary Stakes for former Haunui Farm shuttle stallion Showcasing, while Australian sire Brazen Beau struck Gr. 2 Norfolk Stakes success with The Ridler.
