Bradsell (14-1) won for the second successive year at the meeting dropped back to five furlongs with victory in the King’s Stand Stakes on the opening day of Royal Ascot 2023.
Bradsell had won the six-furlong Coventry Stakes on this day as a juvenile 12 months ago but had not triumphed since. He had finished a well-beaten third behind Little Big Bear in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock Park last month over the same six furlongs. But dropped back down to the minimum distance, just 30 minutes after stable-mate Army Ethos almost gave trainer Watson a second win in the Coventry Stakes as he finished runner-up behind River Tiber, Bradsell was back in the winner's enclosure. Although he had to survive a lengthy stewards' enquiry after drifting across the runner-up Highfield Princess (7-4 favourite), who was a length adrift at line, late on in the race. Trainer Watson, who saw Dragon Symbol demoted to second behind American raider Campanelle when similar interference occurred in the Commonwealth Cup at the meeting two years ago, could finally celebrate a third Royal Ascot winner as this time the placings remained unaltered. Mick Appleby's Annaf (50-1) was a further length-and-three-quarters adrift in third, with Twilight Calls (20-1) another half-length back in fourth.
But a relieved Watson said: "He's a Coventry winner over a stiff six here and we were always going to go over six, we were never going to go over a mile or anything. The plan all winter was always to come to the Commonwealth trial here and on to the Commonwealth. I thought he showed up best of the horses in the Commonwealth trial, he got a bit tired late so we ran in the Sandy Lane and he ran similar race. I knew it couldn't have been tiredness that day, even in the Coventry last year they could only really take him to the four-and-a-half-furlong pole, then Hollie had to say 'right, I'm getting on with this now'.
