Dubai
Godolphin’s Space Age continued his ascent into the higher ranks when recording a pillar to post victory in a competitive renewal of the King George V Stakes on Ladies Day at Royal Ascot.
Ridden by stable jockey William Buick, the Charlie Appleby-trained son of New Approach, was far to strong for his 16 rivals and romped home easily for a length and a half victory over Scottish, the mount of Jim Crowley.
Space Age gifted Appleby, who was appointed a Godolphin trainer in July, 2013, a landmark first Royal Ascot success.“It’s amazing. It’s been a big learning curve. I came down here last year and I was a boy amongst the men,” said the 39-year-old Englishman.
“It was a fantastic ride by William. He was the horse I’ve liked all week and he’s done nothing but thrive since the start of the season, but when I saw the draw my heart did sink.”
Buick, who was recording a 13th Royal Ascot victory was equally delighted and said: “This is all for Charlie, it’s his first Royal Ascot winner and fair play to him. It’s great for the team as everyone works so hard all year round and this is the cream on the cake. It takes a Group horse to win this race and given natural improvement and progression he’ll get there.”
Meanwhile, Trip To Paris, who was supplemented to yesterday’s Ascot Gold Cup at a cost of £35,000 (Dh201,757), wasted no time repaying his connections’ faith when completing a convincing victory in the brutal two-and-a-half mile contest, which was worth a lucrative £229,854.
A winner of the Chester Cup earlier this year, the four-year-old son of Champs Elysees outstayed several accomplished rivals, including the highly regarded Forgotten Rules, to post a length-and-a-quarter victory over the late-finishing Kingfisher, ridden by the in-form Ryan Moore. Jockey Graham Lee, who was recording his first Royal Ascot win and said: “I’ve had a good day in the office, I’ll enjoy it. They’ve supplemented this guy for a lot of money, so fair do’s to the sporting connections for that gesture.”
Out of luck
Meanwhile, luck deserted Dubai-owned horses earlier in the day as Godolphin’s Log Out Island was beaten by half a length by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Waterloo Bridge in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes for two-year-olds, while the much-fancied Pleascach suffered a similar fate in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes.
Trained by Jim Bolger for Godolphin, the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner looked to have every chance when pushed to the front entering the final two furlongs by her jockey Kevin Manning, but was soon passed by Moore astride the David Wachman-trained Curvy approaching the line.
Another Dubai-owned horse to miss the mark was Mustadeem, who finished third behind Time Test in the Group 2 Tercentenary Stakes.
