The Australian duo of Coolangatta and Cannonball have each performed below their best with unplaced efforts in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes on Day 1 of Royal Ascot.
Coolangatta and Cannonball have finished 11th and last respectively in the Group 1 sprint on Tuesday won by the Archie Watson-trained Bradsell.
Coolangatta settled midfield and weakened late down the Ascot straight.
“It just wasn’t her day,” trainer Ciaron Maher said.
“She was a little bit agitated in the stalls James (McDonald) said which is not like her.
“I’ve been happy with her leading in, everything’s gone really smooth. She actually broke good, traveled well, and just came off.
“The ground is quite testing, her preferred ground is firm, but she ran well, it just wasn’t her day.”
Cannonball landed prominent on the nearside of the Ascot straight however was under pressure a long way from home to finish last.
Trainer Peter Snowden post race suggested Cannonball will be better for the experience upon returning to Australia.
“He’ll also get a fair bit out of today.
“You can’t keep making excuses. They’ve all got to go through it, but he’s definitely better on top of the ground.
“Remember his name back home because you’ll be hearing a fair bit more of him.”
Cannonball’s jockey Brett Prebble believes inexperience cost the son of Capitalist dearly.
“He’s an inexperienced horse,” Prebble said.
“He was in the barriers a long time and he came out really awkward. I couldn’t get a backside and he just revved for too long and then obviously the stiff hill here sorts them out If they’d done it a bit upside down, which he did just as an inexperienced horse.
“He’s just an inexperienced sprinter, there’s nowhere to hide in these races, you can’t make mistakes.”
Despite it being labelled something of a forget run, there are no plans for Cannonball to push on with a UK campaign to a race such as next month’s July Cup.
“It doesn’t appeal to me,” Snowden said.
“He’s only a young horse. He’s pretty hardly weighted too, he’s a three-year-old with ten stone on his back. It’s pretty hard for a young horse to be lumping that weight on that track he doesn’t like.”
Australian racing will have two more representatives during Royal Ascot, Artorius and The Astrologist.
Artorius contests Saturday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes where he is an outright favourite after a luckless third in the 2022 renewal.
