Royal glory for Azamour
The 11-8 favourite was popular in the betting ring, but he had to work pretty hard to land the spoils as Ace proved a tough nut to crack in the last two furlongs.
Jockey Mick Kinane reported that his mount was never travelling with his usual fluency in conditions affected by rain. But class told in the end as the John Oxx-trained four-year-old dug deep to prevail by one and a half lengths, with Australian raider Elvstroem a creditable third.
The horse known as ‘Elvis’ led for a long way under Nash Rawiller before Ace and Kieren Fallon took up the advantage at the two-furlong pole, racing down the middle of the track. Azamour was travelling in the slipstream of Ace, but he took a while to draw alongside when asked to make his challenge.
However, once edging ahead just inside the final furlong, the colt responded willingly and was well on top at the line.
However, star filly and last year’s Horse of the Year Ouija Board was disappointing and never got in a serious blow, having been a major drifter in the betting market before the race.
Talk immediately after the race suggested that a clash of the generations with Motivator and Shamardal in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes would come too soon for the winner.
Instead a first attempt at a mile and a half in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes - staged this year at Newbury due to the redevelopment of Ascot - could be on the cards. Oxxsaid: “I’d say that the decision will be whether to try him over a mile and a half in the King George or wait until later in the season in the Arc. We just didn’t know how he would handle these conditions today, but Mick said that he wasn’t altogether happy from early in the race. He said he wasn’t getting a grip on it.
“He stays this trip very well and runs to the line well. He’s tough, tough, tough and reliable. Mick said before the race that he thought he would swing towards the middle of the track because he thought it was a little less cut up.
“He has won Group Ones over a mile and a mile and a quarter, and he deserves the chance to prove himself over a mile and a half. I don’t know whether he will stay, you never know for sure until you try. But we’re anxious to give it a go. Beyond that, I’m not looking any further forward. ”
The Aga Khan, who was being rewarded for his decision to keep Azamour in training as a four-year-old, had won the Queen Anne Stakes with Valixir.
He said of yesterday’s winner: “He really put up a good performance.
“Everybody is finding the ground a bit difficult - it’s slippery on top. We were happy to have a lead to the last two furlongs and it worked out well. This is a seriously good horse.”
Kinanedescribed the ground conditions as “unusual”.
“He wasn’t really enjoying the ground and it took him a while to warm up into it, but he won really well,” said the rider.
“It’s unusual ground out there - it’s moving around a lot. He’s a lovely horse who is very sound and never misses a beat.
“He’s a pleasure to be around.”
