Without Parole claims St James’s Palace Stakes, Dettori-Gosden land treble on day one of Royal Ascot

The winner, ridden by Frankie Dettori for trainer John Gosden, reeled in US Navy Flag before fighting off Gustav Klimt in the final strides with Wootton taking third.

The win represented the second part of a treble of victories for trainer and jockey as Gosden and Dettori enjoyed an earlier victory in the Coventry Stakes with Calyx, and then with Monarchs Glen in the Wolferton Stakes later in the day.

The St James’s Palace Stakes boasts an impressive roll of honour with recent winners including the likes of Frankel, Dawn Approach, Kingman and Gleneagles.Without Parole went into the race as one of the leading contenders likely to be added to that list, but it was US Navy Flag that led King’s Shield and the eventual winner at a blistering pace, with Wootton and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Romanised both towards the rear of the ten runners.

Dettori was wary the pace would drop and picked his moment to send the son of Frankel for home. However Gustav Klimt was not letting up and closed late on but could not do enough to deny Without Parole the success by half a length. Wootton ran home well to deny Tip Two Win third.

The win gave Gosden and Dettori a double Calyx won the second race of the day, the Coventry Stakes. Going into the race also as favourite, Calyx, a son of the 2014 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Kingman, stole a march on the nearside to win by a length from Advertise in second and the highly-fancied Sergei Prokofiev in third.

The trainer-jockey combination had to wait until the final race of the day, the Wolferton Stakes, to complete their treble for the day.Monarchs Glen was making his first start since Dubai in March but delivered a stylish display as Dettori favoured a route up the rail. When a gap appeared, they pounced the son of Frankel charge clear to win by a length from outsiders Euginio and Muntahaa in second and third respectively.

The day’s and Royal meeting’s opening race, the Queen Anne Stakes, was won by the Eve Houghton Johnson-trained Accidental Agent.

The race, the first of three Group 1 encounters on the card, was run over a distance of a mile and Accidental Agent proved sceptics wrong to win by half a length from Lord Glitters in second and Lightning Spear in third.
In addition to the St James’s Palace Stakes, the other Group 1 race was the King’s Stand Stakes where all the pre-race talk was about the flying American filly Lady Aurelia tackling the world’s best sprinter Battaash. As it turned out, neither were to land the prize as Godolphin’s Blue Point came with a late burst under William Buick to come out on top.

Battaash was sent off as second race favourite and broke away quickly taking the field along with it to the surprise of Lady Aurelia’s rider John Velazquez. However Battaash offered too much too soon and did not have the stamina and faded, whereas the Charlie Appleby-trained Blue Point powered on eventually winning by a length and three-quarters.

For Derby-winning trainer Appleby it was his fifth Royal Ascot success, but there was some consolation for Battaash and its early endeavours who hung on in the closing stages for second, while the Michael Dods-trained Mabs Cross took third. Lady Aurelia came seventh.

The day’s other race, the Ascot Stakes, went to the Willie Mullins-trained Lagostovegas.

The longest race of the day run over two miles and four furlongs was not for the faint-hearted but jockey Andrea Atzeni the winner showed desire throughout and came in a length clear of Dubawi Fifty in second and Stratum in third.

Tomorrow and day two of Royal Ascot 2018 is headlined by the Prince of Wales Stakes, with Cracksman heading into the feature race as a clear favourite.