Jockey Ryan Moore rode his eighth winner at this year’s Royal
Ascot meeting when War Envoy (War Front) captured the one-mile Britannia H. and
one race later trainer Charlie Appleby recorded his first Royal Ascot triumph
with the success of 9-1 shot Space Age (New Approach) in the King George V H.
First up, War Envoy displayed a good turn of foot under three-time champion jockey
Moore to win by a
neck. The victory meant Moore equaled the modern-day record of
eight winners at Royal Ascot, which he now shares with Pat Eddery (1989) and
Lester Piggott (1975 & 1965).
“I knew at about halfway that I was on the
right side,” Moore said. “Early on I was worried that there were faster, more
fancied horses drawn on the other side. It was only the Richard Guest horse (Udododontu
[Lope de Vega]) that I
was able to follow. War Envoy is a high-class horse and a strong run mile
suited him down to the ground.”
Trainer Aidan O’Brien earned his fourth
winner of Royal Ascot 2015 with the score.
“I’m delighted. We probably did all the wrong
things with him; we ran him in soft ground, we ran him over a mile and a quarter
— it took us a while to learn what way to ride him, and obviously a mile on
fast ground and taking your time with him works,” O’Brien said.
“Ryan gave him an absolute peach of a ride. Joseph
(O’Brien) wanted to put a tongue-tie on, I wanted to put a hood and a tongue-tie
on but (Moore) said no, just the tongue-tie, so that’s what we did. Ryan is a marvelous jockey, probably the best I’ve ever
seen. He’s a total professional, extremely committed, has a great feel about a
horse and a great feel about a race. He’s an absolute gentleman to work with —
we’ve worked with him very closely for the last three years, and for the last
couple of years he’s been very close to Joseph and very close to everyone. It’s
a privilege that he’s riding for us.”
Moore has been in sensational form this week but the
professional he is, the jockey was evidently frustrated that he had not also
tasted success on Kingfisher (Galileo), a fast-finishing second in Thursday’s Gold Cup
(Eng-G1).
When asked how he thought the week had gone, Moore replied, “I have to move
on from the Gold Cup.”
One race later, Appleby sent out three-year-old Space Age in the King George V H.
and the Irish-bred chestnut overcame a tough draw under an enterprising ride by William Buick
to score by 1 1/4 lengths.
The
Godolphin-owned colt broke smartly under Buick, took the lead and was not to be caught in the home straight, staying on
resolutely to deny the Andrew Balding-trained Scottish (Teofilo).
“He is a horse I have been looking forward to
all week. He did well to win at Newmarket last time and I thought he had a great
chance,” Appleby said.
Appleby did have reservations about the draw before the
race.
“I was worried about the draw,” the trainer admitted, “but William Buick did a great
job in getting him out and then he was able to get quite an easy lead and
dominate the race. He battled all the way to the line and it was a fantastic
performance. He was really game and just kept on finding.
“It is a great effort from all the team and they have to
take a lot of credit. It is fantastic to have my first Royal Ascot winner.”
Appleby reflected on the Royal Meeting.
“It has
been a big learning curve and when I came to Royal Ascot last year I was a boy
amongst men,” he recalled. “I have learnt a lot and we went away last year hoping to come back
here and win one of these big competitive handicaps. We looked after this horse
and he has repaid us.”
The Newmarket handler was also effusive in his praise of
Buick, who is in his first season as a retained rider for Godolphin and earned
his 14th overall Royal Ascot winner.
“It was a fantastic ride by William. The draw was a worry but this horse has
done nothing but thrive,” Appleby said. “Coming into the paddock today I said to William he should
drop out but he told me he wanted to go forward so he didn’t get messed about
out at the back and meet traffic problems. This horse gallops and stays well and
he rode him brilliantly. That is why he is such a top class jockey.”
“I’m very pleased for Charlie, it’s his first Royal Ascot winner — it means
a lot and it’s a huge achievement,” Buick said. “This is always an important meeting and it’s always one
where you want to perform and go into with good rides, which both James (Doyle)
and I have, so it’s not much different to how it’s been before, but we’re
working for Godolphin now, which is our priority and we are very pleased to be a
part of it.”
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