Field Of Gold lit up the first day of Royal Ascot with a dominant display in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
John and Thady Gosden’s colt had been a fast-finishing second behind Ruling Court in the 2000 Guineas before easily winning the Irish equivalent, while the French Guineas winner Henri Matisse was also running.
There was no doubt who emerged as the best of the three though, as Colin Keane breezed through on the 8/11 favourite before bursting clear to beat Henri Matisse by three-and-a-half lengths, with Ruling Court back in third.
Field Of Gold has now charted the same route as his sire Kingman, who also suffered defeat at Newmarket before gaining Irish redemption and adding Royal Ascot glory when trained by John Gosden.
“Like father, like son,” said Gosden, in reference to Kingman’s win in 2014. “The nerves may have got to the trainer beforehand but thankfully not to the horse or the jockey.
“It was great, a great performance and Oisin (Murphy) did a nice job on Windlord setting an even pace and he came to the head of the straight and he had a lot of horse.
“For a moment I was thinking ‘whoops, this is Ascot and it climbs and have we gone a bit soon’. I wasn’t watching him, I was looking back as you always have to do here, but fortunately none of the dangers were coming to get him.
Keane is the new retained rider for owners Juddmonte
“He always impressed as a two-year-old but he was a big boy and slightly outgrew himself. We ran him in France which was a mistake in itself and I should have run him in the Dewhurst and I regret that. But this year he has been exemplary in everything he has done and he’s a pleasure to train because he is a pretty relaxed character.”
Gosden admitted the Irish 2000 Guineas had not originally been part of Field Of Gold’s intended campaign, which could influence where the colt heads next.
He added: “It was never the plan to go to Ireland and he’s had a trial and two Guineas and now this which is a lot of racing and we’re not even halfway through the season yet.
“Maybe [we’ll] freshen him up now and go to the Sussex, but we will see. If we hadn’t gone to Ireland, I would have been keen to go to the Eclipse.
“When they win like that and make it look easy they do take a lot out of themselves and I don’t want to be someone seen running him back quick in an Eclipse straight off the back of this.”
Ascending leads home Irish 1-2-3-4 in Ascot Stakes
Ascending (red and white) beats Nurburging in the Ascot Stakes
Hopes of a winner for the King and Queen were dashed, as the well-fancied Reaching High finished a never-nearer ninth in the Ascot Stakes.
A first horse trained by Willie Mullins to carry the royal colours, Reaching High was the 11-4 favourite in the hands of Ryan Moore – but while he looked full of running rounding the home turn, he was all dressed up with nowhere to go against the rail and when he did eventually get out it was all too late.
Up front Henry de Bromhead’s fellow Irish raider Ascending (20/1) knuckled down under Billy Lee in the concluding stages of the two-and-a-half-mile contest to beat Nurburgring, with the latter’s trainer Joseph O’Brien also saddling the third and fourth home in Comfort Zone and Leinster.
