The first day of Royal Ascot featured three Group I races with a G1 quinella for Frankel in the Queen Anne, the crowning of a another super Siyouni colt for Coolmore in the St James’s Palace and a no show for the Aussies in the King’s Stand Stakes won by last year’s Coventry Stakes winner Bradsell.
The Group I Queen Anne Stakes (1m) looked an open race with many chances on paper and it produced an upset with 33-1 shot Triple Time outgunning quality mare Inspiral to give Frankel a G1 quinella.
Inspiral won the Group I Coronation Stakes at this meeting last year and was having her first run this year with Frankie Dettori in the saddle. She loomed up to win, but couldn’t get past Triple Time, who was too strong on the line winning by a neck with Australian owned Cox Plate contender Light Infantry a good third.
Trained by Kevin Ryan and ridden by Neil Callan, Triple Time is a lightly raced four year-old stallion that had won three of his previous six starts, but had never previously run in a G1 race.
"When I saw him in the paddock I thought phwoar, he's primed for today," said Neil Callan.
"The one thing Kevin has always said is that this is the best horse he's ever trained – the best!
"It's a big call to make because Kevin has had a lot of good horses, but he believed in this horse. Umar [Muhammad], who rides him out every day, said to me in the chute before we went out, 'ride him like his dad in the Guineas, jump and let him roll'.
"When I got to the two-and-a-half-furlong pole and let him roll, I thought it's going to take a good one to catch us. He was fighting to the line for me."
Triple Time is a homebred for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum and has the overall record of four wins and two placings from seven starts.
"We knew he was in great shape and always had great faith in the horse," said Kevin Ryan.
"Sheikh Mohammed Obaid has been very patient. Unfortunately he got a little bit of a stomach cramp just before the Lockinge and we had to take him out of the race. These good horses give you grey hairs at time.
"He's only had one ordinary run [in his career] and that was in France on hock-deep ground. Hopefully we'll have a full season with him but he's got his Group 1. I'm delighted for all my team, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid and Umar, who does everything with this horse at home and is integral to what this horse has done."
Triple Time is the second Group I winner from blue hen Reem Three, a stakes-placed Mark of Esteem mare that has had nine foals to race and all are winners. Triple Time is a sibling to Group I winner Ajman Princess, Group III winners Ostilio and Cape Byron and stakes-winners Third Realm and Captain Winters.
Triple Time is the 29th Group I winner for champion sire Frankel.
The Group I St James’s Palace Stakes (1m) was billed as a showdown between the G1 English 2000 Guineas winner Chaldean and G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Paddington and they did run the quinella with the Coolmore owned son of Siyouni turning the race into procession to win by nearly four lengths.
“The lads will have to think about whether they want to go to Goodwood for the Sussex Stakes. We will tell them after ten days how Paddignton is, and then they will decide between themselves what they want to do. But he has all the options, because he has the speed to be a top miler, like we see, so it's very exciting,” said Aidan O’Brien.
A 420,000 euro purchase from the Arqana Deauville October Yearling Sale, Paddington was the highest priced yearling by his sire at that sale. He has five wins from six starts and is a half-brother to stakes-placed Masterpiece from stakes-winning Montjeu mare Modern Eagle.
He is the ninth Group I winner for champion French sire Siyouni, who has become an important stallion for Coolmore with his Group I winning sons St Mark’s Basilica and Sottsass both on the roster in Ireland.
Siyouni’s champion son St Mark’s Basilica shuttled to Coolmore Australia last spring and returns again this year at a fee of $44,000.
The Group I King’s Stand Stakes (5f) proved a disappointment for the Aussie contenders with Coolangatta finishing 11th and Cannonball at the tail of the field with last year’s Coventry Stakes winner Bradsell a stylish winner over the race favourite Highfield Princess.
Trained by Archie Watson and ridden by Hollie Doyle, Bradsell was fit and ready to fire at his third run this year and beat triple G1 winner Highfield Princess by a length taking his overall record to three wins and two placings from six starts.
“Bradsell is a Coventry winner over a stiff six here so he was always going to come back here over six - he wasn't ever going to be a miler or anything - so the plan all winter was to come to the Commonwealth trial here and on to the Commonwealth,” said Archie Watson.
“He's got so much speed, this horse, and it was an easy decision to pull back to five. It wasn't easy in terms of we had to pay 35,000GBP to supplement him - I was feeling slightly iffy yesterday when he was 40-1 in the betting, thinking, God, we've spent quite a lot of money for a 40-1 shot, but when he was 12-1 before the off I thought that's alright. He's in the July Cup, but he'll probably be taken out on Tuesday because he's not a six-furlong horse, is he, now?! I imagine the Nunthorpe.”
Another successful purchase for Blandford Bloodstock, he was bought for 47,000 pounds from the Goffs UK Breeze Up Sale last year and is the best of two winners from juvenile stakes-winner Russian Punch.
He is the first G1 winner for his sire Tasleet, a Group II winning son of Showcasing that stands at Shadwell at a fee of 6,000 pounds.
