RACING:AT ONE of the most international of racing festivals it was apt that William Buick, one of the most cosmopolitan young jockeys around, jumped to the top of the Royal Ascot tree with yesterday's hat-trick which was highlighted by Fallen For You's dramatic success in the Coronation Stakes.
Any hope that the day four highlight would prove conclusively which filly tops the three-year-old pile over a mile was shattered as Homecoming Queen and Samitar, winners of the guineas in England and Ireland, faded behind a John Gosden trained one-two.
Fallen For You swept from the back to beat her stable companion Starscope by more than three lengths, adding to an earlier Albany Stakes win for the Gosden-Buick team with Newfangled. They later made it three with Gatewood in the Wolferton Handicap.
Buick chose right in the big race, just the latest example of how the young star is timing most things right this season, to such an extent that he is being viewed as an outside bet for the jockeys’ championship with 50 winners already in the bag.
The 23-year-old would no doubt scoff at such suggestions this early in the season and he can do so in four languages – Norwegian, German, Danish as well as English – which is a relic of his upbringing in Oslo.
But Gosden is a noted producer of top-quality jockeys – notably Frankie Dettori – and his faith in Buick has been paying off in Group 1 successes for the last couple of years.
Fallen For You is the latest and the trainer was keen to dismiss any hint of good fortune about her surprise win.
“I always thought she was our best filly last year but I gave the wrong instructions in the Fillies’ Mile. When she came back I think she still had that in her mind as she was always too keen.
“We then ran her behind a lovely older filly of Henry Cecil’s , who was second in the Windsor Forest. She got in trouble but she learned a lot. She trained beautifully, worked well and we were ready for a big run. She is classy. This is not a fluke,” said Gosden.”
There was no fluke about Newfangled’s win either, making all into a headwind and doing enough to earn 10-1 quotes for next year’s 1,000 Guineas.
“I was a passenger . . . she jumped first and when you fight a racehorse there’s only one winner,” said Buick.
There was no Irish-trained winner but Johnny Murtagh got off the mark in the King Edward VII Stakes aboard Thomas Chippendale who led home a Henry Cecil one-two.
“It’s an honour to ride for such a wonderful trainer,” said Murtagh.
Queen Elizabeth secured a first Royal Ascot winner in four years when Estimate took the Group 3 Queen’s Vase.
