Mostahdaf (10-1) ran out a superb winner of the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes on day two of Royal Ascot 2023 as he put some of the race's big guns in the shade.
The John and Thady Gosden-trained five-year-old son of Frankel flew home, under Jim Crowley, to land a brilliant four-length success over 2-1 favourite Luxembourg. It was a first Group One success for the Shadwell Estate-owned Mostahdaf, who had been last of 20 in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc De Triomphe last October and down the field in the Dubai Sheema Classic in Meydan on his only start this year. But now, after his biggest career success, all the top middle distance contests for the rest of the season are open with the Juddmonte International at York in August the likely next target.
It seemed all was going to plan for Aidan O’Brien’s Luxembourg, who led under Ryan Moore as he had done in winning the Group One Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last season and the Group One Tattersalls Stakes at the Curragh last month. But while the Ballydoyle star was being pestered up front by American raider, 100-1 outsider Classic Causeway, on the turn for home in the 1m2f contest, Mostahdaf moved through on the outside and swept past to open up a big lead. He moved clear on the run to the line to score comfortably with Luxembourg staying on for second ahead of fellow big guns – Charlie Appleby's 2021 Derby hero Adayar, under Liverpool FC fan William Buick, who finished third and the Sir Michael Stoute-trained QIPCO Champion Stakes winner Bay Bridge, who was fifth behind My Prospero.
But it was all about the winner's stunning success and John Gosden said: “I was expecting him to pick up well in the straight, but not to make them look like they were standing still. But he did it in Riyadh; he won the Neom Cup and just flew away. When the ground dries up, he’s a brilliant horse, so the fact that he quickened like that on that ground – the amount he quickened past the others did surprise me, but the fact that he loved the ground, and he was in top form… We were going to run him in the Brigadier Gerard but he hadn’t quite recovered from his Middle Eastern campaign. If you check the form book, he took on a certain Japanese horse (Equinox) in the Sheema Classic. And a mile and a half is beyond him – he’s a mile and a quarter horse, but he was the one who put it up to them and gave it his best go, and therefore back to a mile and a quarter, but what a horse that horse is, the Japanese horse. What’s the plan now? That might have been the plan!”
Talking about Sheikha Hissa, Gosden said: “She’s done amazingly – she’s rationalised the whole programme after her father (Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum) died, bringing it all together. She’s here with her husband today – she’s recently married – and it’s a great achievement to put this together; Baaeed last year and this horse now, possibly worthy of going to stud as a stallion, and that’s what it’s all about. I always find the Eclipse comes too close. I’d wait for the Juddmonte International; that would be the race for me. He likes to run fresh – too many nights out on the town, we don’t bounce like we used to. I think the Juddmonte International should be the big target.”
Jockey Crowley, who was landing a 15th Royal Ascot winner but a first in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes, said: "It's great that Sheikha Hissa is here and with her family. This horse is beautifully bred, and he ran in the St James's Palace Stakes last year and he's been knocking on the door in big races. It's only now that it's coming to fruition. He loves fast ground and a mile and a quarter. He's a bit of a handful in the preliminaries, but once he gets his mind on the job in the race he's class. We saw that in Saudi and he probably didn't quite get home in Dubai over a mile and a half when taking on Equinox. I tried to chase him down that day and cut my own throat, but coming back to a mile and a quarter was the key. The horse was so well beforehand and it was a great race to win.
"The Gosdens do an amazing job with him. I think he came back from Dubai a bit quiet and the trip there and to Saudi probably took more out of him than expected. They've waited and been patient for this race. It was a funny race and I had a couple of plans – I could have gone forward if Ryan didn't go on Luxembourg and then I could have sat second to the American horse and maybe got first kick. From my draw I went with Plan B and took a sit and it worked out really well. We went an even pace and he took he into the race extremely well. I may have gone for home too soon, but I didn't want to disappoint him and he wanted to go. He's smashed the field in Saudi and he had those conditions today. I'm surprised how well he's won against that opposition, but now we know where we are going with him in all those big mile-and-a-quarter races. Top of the ground is his gig."
Runner-up Luxembourg could return to Ascot next month and step up in distance to 1m4f in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes on July 29.
O'Brien said: “We're very happy and the winner won very well. The plan was that we would have a look at the King George after this anyway. That's possible, so we'll see how he is. He was always going to get a mile and a half well."
He could face Adayar again as trainer Charlie Appleby said he will also step back up in trip next time. Appleby said: "The way the race was set up wasn't ideal for us. He was a little bit tardy from the gate and we wanted to either be on the lead or sit second to the American horse, but we ended up in the spot we thought Ryan might end up, that was our plan. I was pleased with the horse in respects to the fractions that were set, it was set up for a turn of foot at the end and the winner is good at that. I feel for our fella, we'll step back up to a mile and a half now and go for the King George, that's what he's crying out for. We've had a go over 10 furlongs with him, but against the very best he's just come up a little short a couple of times. But I'm not walking away too disappointed. If he can reclaim the King George, we'll be very happy."
