With only 50 years between them, the combination of Shane Crosse and Joseph O’Brien got Ireland off the mark in style at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.
Under a masterfully judged ride by Crosse, that had luminaries queuing to praise the jockey, State Of Rest won the historic meeting’s first ever £1 million prize, the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
It was a fourth Group One win in a fourth different country for the colt who last year landed Australia’s Cox Plate and the Saratoga Derby in New York before scoring in last month’s Prix Ganay.
This, however, was State Of Rest’s finest hour as he beat off an international field with 21-year-old Crosse schooling some of the world’s top jockeys from the front.
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As Frankie Dettori fumbled his chance away at the start on Lord North by failing to remove a blindfold in time, Ireland’s 2018 champion apprentice took the five-runner race by the scruff of the neck.
Left alone by rivals such as Ryan Moore and France’s champion jockey Mickael Barzalona, Crosse set the tempo he wanted, upping the pace in the straight to ultimately emerge on top by a length from the odds-on favourite Bay Bridge.
It was the rider’s first Royal Ascot winner and a first as a trainer for O’Brien.
The latter landed the Prince of Wales’s as a jockey on his father’s So You Think a decade earlier and the 29-year-old has quickly earned an international reputation in his new role.
If his eye for a horse in any racing discipline is undeniable, O’Brien’s judgment in jockeys appears to be just as impressive.
Having missed out on O’Brien’s 2020 St Leger success with Galileo Chrome through testing positive for Covid on the eve of the race, Crosse might have feared his shot at establishing his big-race credentials were gone.
The trainer’s faith in the Tipperary jockey has never wavered however, despite competition from a handful of other promising young riders at his yard and no doubt some of Europe’s best enviously eyeing the mount on State Of Rest.
“The plan, speaking to Joseph this morning, and it being a small field, was not to complicate it. From out draw [stall one] we thought it was the best way of winning,” Crosse explained. “This is an absolute dream – there’s no other way to describe it.”
On ITV’s coverage Johnny Murtagh described it as a “brilliant, brilliant ride” and O’Brien wasn’t going to disagree.
“We had a good chat with Shane and decided to make the running. It couldn’t have worked out better. He got the fractions perfect.
“It’s very special and a long time coming [first Royal Ascot winner as a trainer]. It’s special to get a winner and not only a winner but to win a race like the Prince of Wales’s is hugely special,” he said.
Aidan O’Brien’s Royal Ascot tally is now 77 after securing a third Windsor Castle victory through the 6-5 favourite Little Big Bear. The Irish horse had a neck to spare over the 14-1 shot Rocket Rodney.
“We were a little concerned about the wide draw as he was away by himself and he’s still a baby,” O’Brien Snr said before nominating the Phoenix Stakes as a possible option for Little Big Bear.
The proud father of the big race winning trainer added: “It’s an unbelievable day for Joseph. He told me what he was going to do before the race and I didn’t think it was the right thing. From experience I learned not to say anything!”
Ireland’s champion jockey Colin Keane came up agonisingly short of his own first Royal Ascot success when beaten a nose in the Queen’s Vase on the 20-1 outsider Zechariah.
Keane looked to have the race in the bag too, only for the 5-2 favourite Eldar Eldarov to stay on and get the better of a nodding finish. The winning jockey David Egan subsequently got a two-day ban for his use of the whip.
Dramatised lived up to her reputation with a smooth Queen Mary victory under in-form jockey Danny Tudhope who rode a double on day one.
In contrast, top US rider Irad Ortiz, who missed the start in spectacular fashion on Golden Pal in Tuesday’s King’s Stand, had another day to forget.
After finishing fourth in the Queen Mary on Love Reigns, Ortiz got a five-day suspension for careless riding after allowing his filly to drift soon after the start and interfere with a rival.
