Fellowes admits being ‘crestfallen’ after defeat
CHARLIE Fellowes is plotting a path to the St Leger for Grand Alliance after he suffered the narrowest of defeats in Royal Ascot’s King Edward VII Stakes.
The colt was a 10-1 chance for the Group Two contest on his first start since his finishing 11th in the Derby, and was beaten just a short head by Aidan O’Brien’s Changingoftheguard after hanging across the track in the closing stages.
The outcome means Fellowes has again been left to wonder what might have been, as he was narrowly denied another win at the meeting last year when Dubious Affair’s Copper Horse Stakes bid was dashed by interference.
“Initially I felt really happy with the result, to come second in a Group Two he has had to take another big step forward and I was delighted for the owners as they also bred him and everyone was really pleased,” he said.
“I’ve had a bit of time to reflect now and I can’t help but feel a little bit... perhaps crestfallen is the right word. That’s the second year in a row that I’ve had a horse who was legitimately the best horse in the race and didn’t win.
“Ascot is not an easy place to win races, it’s not easy to get your hands on those little silver snuff boxes and they take pride of place.
“Two years in a row we have come away from a good run when, without any disrespect to the winners, it should have been us.
“I’m young, we’re a small yard that is desperately trying to grow and increase our quality and I can’t tell you how much a Royal Ascot winner would help us out. There is that little bit of frustration that we didn’t get a winner this year because I feel like we deserved it.”
The St Leger is on the agenda for Grand Alliance, who will contest either Goodwood’s Gordon Stakes or York’s Great Voltigeur en route.
“The owners would love to run him in the St Leger. On pedigree he has no right to be running in the Leger, but on pedigree he has no right to be running over a mile and a half,” Fellowes added.