Al Kazeem crowned Prince at Royal Ascot

Dubai: Mukhadram ran a gallant race at Royal Ascot on Wednesday but was denied victory by the shortest of margins as favourite Al Kazeem pounced late to win the pound 500,000 Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1), the feature event on Day Two of the famous meeting.

The four-year-old son of Shamardal, who came into the race with strong form having won the Brigadier Gerard Stakes (G3) at Sandown in May, looked like he was staying on well for jockey Paul Hanagan, before former Jebel Ali Stables rider James Doyle made a late charge aboard the favourite to prevail by a neck.

All things considered it was a fantastic repeat of Tuesday’s St. James’s Palace Stakes, which produced an epic battle between Godolphin’s Dawn Approach and Toronado.

Doyle, who was winning his first race at Royal Ascot, was overwhelmed and told Channel 4 Racing: “I thought Paul Hanagan gave his horse a fantastic ride, he got his fractions right. He got a couple of lengths on me turning in and I had to make them up.

“He’s a very tough horse and I’m lucky to have sat on him.

“It’s magical really, to get a Royal Ascot winner. It leaves you speechless, it’s what it is all about. Hardwork pays off and when it does it’s fantastic.”

Al Kazeem was recording his second Group One success following the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh, where he beat Camelot, who finished fourth on Wednesday.

Winning trainer Roger Charlton graciously said: “You need to have a lot of patience in this game, it’s what Sir Henry Cecil always said, and we’ve been patient with him, but you need the owners.”

“Like most people I’d love to have a runner in the Arc [de Triomphe] and if we go there maybe the King George would be next.”

Hanagan, who was bidding to give owner Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, a third Prince of Wales’s Stakes after Nayef (2003) and Muhtarram (1995-94) said: “It went to plan, I always had faith in him. I just thought he deserved to win that.

“He fought back against a very good horse all the way up the straight. I couldn’t have asked for more from him.”

Trainer Wiliam Haggas added: “I can’t begin to tell you how good a ride that was [by Hanagan]. The horse has run his guts out and the trainer has lost his voice.”

Earlier, Aidan O’Brien and his son Joseph teamed up to win the Group 2 Jersey Stakes, the opening race on day two of the Royal Ascot Meeting.

O’Brien Jr. was at the top of his game as his driving finish aboard Irish 2,000 Guineas (G1) runner-up Gale Force Ten, helped secure victory by a head over the Richard Hughes-ridden Montiridge.

Godolphin’s Tawhid, ridden by the stable’s retained rider Silvestre de Sousa, appeared to have every chance one furlong out, but hung badly under pressure and had to settle for third.

Bin Surour was looking for his second success in the seven-furlong contest for three-year-olds, which he won back in 2004 with Kheleyf.

O’Brien Jr., who had won the opening race on Day One as well with Declaration of War, was full of praise for Gale Force Ten.

“He’s very tough, but I was praying someone would come to me as he was being very idle. When he saw the other horse he put his head down,” he said.

“He’s small but he has a big heart.”

Aidan O’Brien, who was winning the race for the third time after Ishvana (2012) and Mozart (2001), said: “He is a very hardy horse, loves the fast ground and has plenty of pace. He had two very good runs in Classics so he was entitled to win this.

“Mozart (2001) won this race by the same sort of distance (a neck) after being second in the Irish 2,000 Guineas.”