QUEEN SO CLOSE TO MORE GLORY
ROYAL ASCOT 2014 Irish raider pips last year’s Gold Cup hero
LEADING LIGHT had to call on all his class and courage to deny the Queen’s Estimate a second successive Gold Cup yesterday. Two-and-a-half miles of lungbursting galloping culminated in a three-way scrap in the final furlong with front- running Missunited outrunning her 40-1 odds a shorthead back in third.
Four-and-a-half lengths behind the trio was Brown Panther, carrying the colours of former England striker Michael Owen, who was last off the bridle and looked the most likely winner with three furlongs to run, but the final two-furlong climb to the line is the game-changer in this historic contest.
For one moment it looked as if the dream result for Estimate was going to happen as Ryan Moore — buffeted on either side at the furlong pole — urged his mount to produce every last ounce of effort.
But Estimate never quite got her head in front and it was 10-11 f avourite Leading Light who scraped home to become the first St Leger winner to land the centrepiece of the royal meeting since Classic Cliche in 1996 and shrug off concerns about the form of trainer Aidan O’Brien’s string.
The son of Montjeu provided a sixth win in the race in the past nine years for O’Brien but it was a first in the race for his 21-year-old jockey son Joseph. He produced a ride of tactical mastery but also great force, which earned him a seven-day ban and £3,000 fine for using his whip excessively.
He subsequently picked up a further two-day whip ban on Carlo Bugatti, seventh to Elite Army in the King George V Handicap, and will now miss the Coral Eclipse meeting at Sandown two weeks tomorrow.
Leading Light had won at this fixture 12 months ago when landing the Queen’s Vase over two miles. But the extra four furlongs of the Gold Cup had raised questions in the O’Brien stable, especially with Leading Light’s dam, Dance Parade, having won the five-furlong Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot i n 1996 and never having won beyond seven furlongs. That required Joseph to conserve energy early on but, as the tempo surged, he was hard at work before the home turn.
His father, who had opened his account at the meeting when Bracelet won the Ribblesdale Stakes, said: ‘Joseph took nothing out of him to get a position and saved him all the way.
‘It was nip and tuck. I don’t know whether he won with stamina or courage but he does work with plenty of class.
‘Before the race we thought he could go back to a mile-and-a-half after this in the King George (at Ascot on July 26).’
Inevitably, the chief focus was on runner-up Estimate as she tried to give the Queen her 23rd success at the meeting.
Having also l anded the 2012 Queen’s Vase, Estimate has become a royal meeting old hand but pre-race expectation had been lowered because preparation was hindered by a muscle injury, testing the prowess of trainer Sir Michael Stoute and meaning she was allowed to start at odds of 8-1. John Warren, racing adviser to the Queen, said: ‘You couldn’t ask for more.
‘ Coming into today we really thought we were going to get a pasting from i mproving young stayers. We thought, perhaps, she would finish third and run a gallant race. But to give the winner such a run for his money and run so determined, Ryan said it was her career-best.’
Dismissing the suggestion that the interference Estimate suffered had been significant, Warren added: ‘Ryan did say there was a bit of leaning but it is the name of the game.’
Estimate i s unlikely to race beyond this season but should see the track again.
Warren said: ‘There is no reason not to run again but she won’t run on soft or heavy ground like she did last autumn.’
Frankie Dettori finished fifth on Simenon but moved on to 49 Royal meeting victories on Richard Hannon’s i mpressive Norfolk Stakes winner Baitha Alga.
Dettori has five rides today to secure the half-century.
The Queen, meanwhile, has a chance to gain a measure of compensation with Bold Sniper in today’s Wolferton Handicap.