Sign up now!5 things we learned on the first day of Royal Ascot
PA Sport 6:57pm, Tue 19 Jun 2018
Emotional Eve Rarely has a winner brought as much emotion as that by Accidental Agent in the Queen Anne Stakes. Eve Johnson Houghton held nothing back as she reacted to the victory of her 33-1 shot. And she had every reason to cry with tears of joy. It was her first Group One winner, and her first at Ascot. Bred by her mother, the horse was unwanted at the sales and is named after her maternal grandfather, John Goldsmith, a trainer and secret agent who escaped from the Gestapo in the Second World War.
John Gosden and Frankie Dettori completed a hat-trick on the opening day of Royal Ascot as Monarchs Glen landed the Wolferton Stakes. The formidable combination had already claimed the Coventry Stakes with 2-1 favourite Calyx and the St James’s Palace Stakes with 9-4 market leader Without Parole.
Lagostovegas provided Willie Mullins with a fourth victory in the Ascot Stakes. Ireland’s 12-times champion jumps trainer had previously struck gold in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap with Simenon (2012), Clondaw Warrior (2015) and last year’s winner Thomas Hobson and this year launched a five-pronged assault.
Without Parole claimed his fourth victory from as many starts with a clear-cut success in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. John Gosden’s Frankel colt completed his hat-trick in the Listed Heron Stakes at Sandown last month, but faced a significant step up in class for this Group One test, with 2000 Guineas runner-up Tip Two Win and Irish 2,000 Guineas hero Romanised among his rivals.
Blue Point wore down Battaash to claim top honours in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. The five-furlong sprint was billed as a match between the Charlie Hills-trained Battaash and Wesley Ward’s defending champion Lady Aurelia, who was bidding for a third Royal Ascot victory overall.
Calyx maintained his unbeaten record with a most impressive display in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. A son of trainer John Gosden’s former champion miler Kingman, the two-year-old had looked a star in the making on his racecourse debut at Newmarket just 10 days ago and was a heavily-supported 2-1 favourite for this Group Two assignment.