Jim Bolger was happy to find a “willing risk taker” in Godolphin supremo Sheikh Mohammed as Dawn Approach claimed a thrilling St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
On a day when American superstar Animal Kingdom badly fluffed his lines in the Queen Anne Stakes, Dawn Approach returned just 17 days after pulling so wildly in the Epsom Derby that he had ruined his chance and finished last.
The 2000 Guineas winner again took a strong hold and also had to endure a heavy bump along the way, as did Toronado, but this time he did eventually consent to settle and saw off Richard Hannon’s charge by a short head in an epic duel.
Reflecting on running so soon after the Derby debacle, Bolger said: “That’s the nature of the sport – you take chances and sometimes they work and other times they don’t. Sheikh Mohammed was a willing risk taker.
“I always had faith in the horse and I knew whatever happened at Epsom was a one-off.
“We will have to sit down and talk about things, but I’m not going to make any predictions at this stage – everything is open to consideration.”
Toronado’s rider Richard Hughes was in no doubt being hampered in the straight cost him victory.
Declaration Of War handed Aidan O’Brien yet another major Royal Ascot victory as the bold adventure of Animal Kingdom came to a deeply unsatisfactory end.
It is rare enough for a Kentucky Derby winner to still be running at five, let alone be flown across the Atlantic to appear at this esteemed meeting, but the authoritative performance of Graham Motion’s chestnut in the Dubai World Cup saw him sent off the 5-4 favourite back over a mile on grass.
Animal Kingdom pulled furiously in the early stages and emptied out alarmingly as he beat only a couple of stragglers home, while O’Brien’s son Joseph had given a beautiful demonstration of patience to produce Declaration Of War (15-2) to lead shortly before the line, rocketing clear of Aljamaaheer.
Eddie Lynam is looking forward to another busy campaign for tough-as-teak sprinter Sole Power (8-1) who counted Australian sprinter among his scalps in the in the King’s Stand Stakes.
The triumph gave Johnny Murtagh his 40th Royal winner and Lynam his first.
