It was a case of the rough and the smooth in the top mile events on Day One of Royal Ascot as Baaeed maintained his unbeaten record in facile fashion and Coroebus conspired to eventually emerge on top also.
A 1-6 SP suggested Baaeed had little more than a lucrative piece of work on his plate in the Queen Anne Stakes and so it proved.
Just as in last month’s Lockinge, the world’s top-rated thoroughbred once again left Real World in his wake to stretch his unbeaten record to eight races, barely having to be pushed out by Jim Crowley to win by under two lengths.
“It doesn’t get any easier than that,” Crowley reported of the William Haggas-trained star. “Everything went smoothly, the ground is beautiful, and I just let him stretch out for the last furlong. It was like clockwork.”
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There was certainly nothing like the fireworks of Frankel’s era-defining Queen Anne rout from a decade ago although Baaeed looks set to continue down the route all but patented by that superstar and contest Goodwood’s Sussex Stakes next.
There could even be echoes of the billing that accompanied Frankel’s first Sussex Stakes victory in 2011.
That came on the back of when the great horse came closest than he ever did to defeat in that year’s St James’s Palace Stakes and a subsequent clash with the older Canford Cliffs at Goodwood got tagged as a “Duel on the Downs”.
On Tuesday Guineas winner Coroebus defied unfavourable circumstances to just land the three-year-old highlight. From an unpromising position at one point, Godolphin’s 10-11 favourite emerged on top in a blanket finish in which the first five were covered by little more than half a length.
It was a hairy outcome for those trading at odds-on but with the Baaeed and Coroebus camps apparently set on the Sussex target next, another duel around Goodwood could be in the offing.
Having shown blistering speed in the Guineas, Godolphin’s Charlie Appleby was simultaneously pleased with Coroebus’ resolution in a slowly run race and bullish about the prospect of taking on Baaeed.
“The Sussex Stakes is a race that we have spoken about beforehand, that we’d potentially like to see Coroebus take on Baaeed. It’s always a fantastic race, the older horses and the three-year-old taking each other on, and we were confident [beforehand] that we’d be doing that on the back of today. I think that is still very much in the conversation,” the trainer said.
“Baaeed was a very impressive winner, taking nothing away from him, but this was just our horse’s fifth start of his career and I thought it was a gutsy performance in a race that probably wasn’t run particularly to suit us,” Appleby added.
Immediate bookmaker reaction was to install Baaeed a heavy odds-on favourite to emerge on top ahead of again following Frankel’s footsteps further to York’s Juddmonte International in August.
Blistering King’s Stand
On a day when Irish fortunes fizzled out, there were fireworks galore in the King’s Stand Stakes as Australia’s Nature Strip blitzed his opposition with a resounding victory.
It was a first Royal Ascot win for top trainer Chris Waller who’d finished runner-up in the race seven years previously but made no mistake now as his 9-4 shot won by almost five lengths.
Nature Strip left behind him plenty of drama as the 15-8 US favourite Golden Pal blew the start, rallied briefly to lead under Irad Ortiz before quickly fading to last.
The outsider Khaadem reared up just as the stalls opened leaving Jamie Spencer in the gate and he proceeded to give Nature Strip’s rider James McDonald his only moment of worry in the race.
“I didn’t think a horse could come with him so when the horse appeared without the rider I did get a bit of a fright,” said McDonald, who rode a previous Royal Ascot winner with Expert Eye in the Jersey.
Nature Strip could now line up alongside his stable companion Home Affairs in Saturday’s Platinum Jubilee Stakes. The big Ascot sprint double was pulled off by another Aussie, Choisir, 19 years ago.
Mullins and the Ascot Stakes
For much of the straight, Willie Mullins’s Bring On The Night looked like justifying 3-1 favouritism in the long-distance Ascot Stakes only to find Coltrane three parts of a length too strong at the line.
Cadillac, purchased by new owners for £500,000 the day before, was also runner-up in the Wolferton Stakes in his last start for Jessica Harrington behind the Godolphin outsider Dubai Future.
The latter’s jockey Danny Tudhope completed a big-priced double in the Copper Horse Stakes as Get Shirty at 16-1 overcame trouble in the straight to beat Ballydoyle’s 2-1 favourite Cleveland.
Another Aidan O’Brien favourite, Blackbeard, was fourth in the Coventry Stakes behind Hollie Doyle’s mount Bradsell. Doyle subsequently got a two-day ban for her use of the whip.
