ASCOT, ENGLAND // Sir Michael Stoute is just one short of Sir Henry Cecil’s landmark of 75 Royal Ascot winners after Saeed Suhail’s Across The Stars landed the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes here on Friday.
Across The Stars beat Coolmore’s Beacon Rock by a length and a half with Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Muntahaa in behind.
Across The Stars showed promise earlier in the season when third in a Derby trial at Lingfield and was lacklustre in the big one at Epsom when he lost his place at a vital stage.
That day he was ridden by Kieren Fallon, who looked after him, and Frankie Dettori was the benefactor when he rode his fourth winner of the five-day meeting, punching the air as he crossed the line.
“Saeed was keen to go to Epsom and I can understand that,” Stoute said. “He won a Derby 12 years beforehand but I didn’t think Epsom would suit him and it didn’t.
“This track suited him a lot better. He is a big, long striding horse who is a little impetuous. He has plenty of growing up to do and I think he has a future.
“He is a big horse with plenty of ability and great scope but he needs to grow up a bit more.”
Suhail is currently in Dubai and has plenty of time to decide what to do next with his star colt. Across The Stars will now be afforded a break, which rules out the Irish Derby at the end of the month and Stoute revealed he felt it unlikely the son of Sea The Stars, the 2009 Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, would stay the extra 400 metres of the St Leger in September.
There was no further success for the UAE on the rest of the six-race card, but Quiet Reflection showed she is a sprinter on the up when she coolly won the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup for trainer Karl Burke from Tom Dascombe’s Kachy.
Quiet Reflection, who is owned by the Ontoawinner syndicate comprising ten people, was ridden with aplomb by former National Hunt jockey Dougie Costello, who switched codes just 18 months ago.
On what was his first ride at the royal meeting, it proved all too much for the 33-year-old. “Emotion has taken over a bit,” he said through tears. “It has been a long road. This feels like the icing on the cake. This filly is one of a kind and you haven’t seen her potential today.”
Quiet Reflection was bought for £44,000 (Dh232,378) in April last year and picked up £243,853 for winning the 1,200-metre race. The jubilant syndicate members gave Buffering’s owners a run for their money for their celebrations at Meydan on World Cup night.
“I haven’t slept for a week,” Niall O’Brien, one of the syndicate managers, said. “You don’t allow yourself to think you can win. We’ve only been going for five years so it is quite amazing. We’ve taken on the best owners in the world as well.”
Forty minutes later normal service was resumed when Al Shaqab’s Qemah won the Coronation Stakes.
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