Ryan Moore ended a four-year wait for this ninth Royal Ascot jockeys’ title here and did so with winners from opposite ends of his race-riding repertoire. Broome, a 6-1 shot, made all the running to see off a field including Hurricane Lane, last year’s Irish Derby winner, in the Hardwicke Stakes before Moore pulled off a remarkable needle-threading exercise aboard Rohaan in the Wokingham Handicap, finding a way through a wall of horses as he went from nearly last to first in the space of a furlong.
Rohaan’s victory, for the second year running in this ultra-competitive handicap and under top weight of 9st 12lb for good measure, moved Moore to a total of seven winners over the meeting, three clear of his nearest pursuers, William Buick and Danny Tudhope, with only two races to run.
Even the normally taciturn Moore found his face breaking into something akin to a smile after pulling up on Rohaan. His cause looked hopeless with just under a quarter of a mile to run, with Rohaan close to the stands’ rail and still at least four lengths off the pace. The leaders were also tightly bunched after the whole field decided to come stands-to-middle.
When Moore asked Rohaan to quicken, though, the response was immediate, and crucially he was not stopped anywhere on his path to the line. Rohaan powered through a narrow gap between Mr Wagyu and Popmaster, the eventual runner-up, without a second thought and was in front a few strides later. It was Moore’s 74th winner at Royal Ascot, putting him four behind Frankie Dettori in the list of current jockeys.
Moore handed the credit to Rohaan and his trainer, David Evans, afterwards. “I knew from two-and-a-half out that he was coming right back to form and that he was going to win,” he said. “He felt like the horse of old and all credit to David for getting him there.”
Worcester 1.30 Port O'Clock 2.00 Ashoka 2.35 Masterdream 3.05 Inn The Bull 3.35 Percy's Word 4.05 Pop The Champagne 4.35 Leopolds Rock 5.07 Windy Cove
Hexham 1.45 Nero Rock 2.15 Lady Babs 2.45 Melburnian 3.20 The Vollan 3.55 Grand Du Nord 4.25 Follow Your Arrow 5.00 Gone In Sixty
Pontefract 3.45 Lady Lavina 4.15 Love Is Golden 4.45 Glenartney 5.15 Oleg 5.45 Unplugged 6.15 Exminster (nap) 6.45 Ghathanfar (nb)
Moore’s earlier victory on Broome in the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes was a complete contrast, a race which he took by the scruff from the start and refused to let go. Broome had something to find with Hurricane Lane, the favourite, on ratings and with last year’s Irish Derby winner making his first start since finishing third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last October, Moore was determined to make it a test.
Broome had his field on the stretch as they turned for home and, while Buick did his best to launch a challenge on Hurricane Lane, they faded into third in the closing stages as Broome powered on to a three-and-a-quarter-length defeat of Mostahdaf. He was cut from 33-1 to around 12-1 for the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes back at Ascot next month.
Chepstow: 1.05 Greg The Great, 1.35 Shawnee Warrior, 2.10 Agapanther, 2.45 Hope Probe (nap), 3.15 Stone Circle, 3.45 Bellstreet Bridie, 4.15 Mutara.
Southwell: 1.20 Serjeant Painter, 1.50 Captain Ivan, 2.25 Copper Vale, 3.00 Quid Pro Quo, 3.30 Abington Park, 4.00 Windy Cove, 4.30 Jaunty Soria.
Windsor: 5.05 Romantic Memories, 5.35 Tenjin, 6.05 A Sure Welcome, 6.35 Cliffs Of Fury, 7.05 King Of The Kippax (nb), 7.35 La Yakel, 8.10 Meganseighteen.
Wolverhampton: 5.55 Ghostly, 6.25 Reckon I’m Hot, 6.55 Rogue Spirit, 7.25 Crush And Run, 8.00 Federal Street, 8.30 Monaadhil, 9.00 Street Poet.
Buick had earlier drawn to within one winner of Moore over the week when he took the Jersey Stakes on Noble Truth but he was on the wrong one in a Godolphin one-two in the £1m Platinum Jubilee Stakes, as Naval Crown (33-1) edged out Creative Force (12-1). He eventually ended the week with five winners, two behind Moore, having brought Stratum with a strong run in the closing stages to win the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the final race of the meeting, for the second year running.
James Doyle, Naval Crown’s rider, steered a path down the same stands’ rail where Rohaan would prevail 35 minutes later, and was both delighted and relieved to have got on the board for the week with time running out.
“It’s really tough when you’re going into the last day here [without a winner],” Doyle said. “Charlie [Appleby] said to me this morning, ‘Why are you looking so grumpy?’ And I said, ‘I’m running out of bullets.’ So for this fella to get us out of jail is brilliant.
“William said it was about time I pulled my finger out, he’s been winding me up all week, so when you get one on the board, it settles everything down a bit.”
Aidan O’Brien, Broome’s trainer, ended the week as the leading trainer for the 11th time in his career, with five winners, one more than Appleby, Britain’s champion trainer, who is still looking for his first top-trainer award at this meeting.
