Albany glory for Hamdan team

Habaayib kicked off day four of Royal Ascot with a blinding exhibition of pace in the Albany Stakes.

The Ed Dunlop-trained filly supplemented an easy maiden success at Nottingham in May with Group Three honours at the most prestigious meeting of the season.

Richard Hills was sighted making breakneck progress some way from home aboard the 16-1 scorer, who glided away from Chachamaidee inside the last furlong to gain a slight advantage.

Although Lillie Langtry, Aidan O'Brien's 11-8 favourite, arrived on the scene with a late rattle, Habaayib was always in command and collected going away by a length and a quarter.

Henry Cecil's Chachamaidee ran a race full of promise to take third prize, another two and a half lengths adrift of the impressive winner.

Dunlop, also successful on Thursday with Fareer in the Britannia Stakes, said: "We thought they would go very fast and we toyed with the idea of running her in the Queen Mary, but Richard was very adamant to come here and he has been proved right.

"She travels well and can quicken, and in her homework she does everything beautifully but she hits the front and then pricks her ears, so you never quite know what you've got there.

"I've never had a two-year-old winner at Royal Ascot so it's a great result."

Habaayib's victory represented a third Royal Ascot winner of the week for powerful owner Hamdan Al Maktoum.

Hills, Sheikh Hamdan's first-choice rider, added: "I went and sat on her earlier in the week and I never really doubted her speed.

"I thought if I could retain her speed over six furlongs, then she'd have a good turn of foot.

"The plan was to take our time and I rode her like a filly for the future but when I just started to pick them up, I got there a lot sooner than I wanted.

"All credit to her, she kept going."

O'Brien said of the runner-up: "I'm delighted with her and she's run a great race.

"She won't mind stepping up in distance, but she does have plenty of speed."

Disappointment of the race was American sprinter Aegean, who was never travelling fluently and came home ninth under John Velazquez.

Velazquez said: "She didn't handle the course, she was well placed but when I started pushing her, she was going nowhere."

Cecil said of third-placed Chachamaidee: "She's still a bit of a baby and very inexperienced.

"She's still immature, but she will get further and will improve."