State Of Rest had won the Saratoga Derby in America and the Cox Plate in Australia
State Of Rest withstood the odds of the favorite Bay Bridge to win the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Shane Crosse set the pace perfectly for the 5-1 winner to give him and coach Joseph O’Brien their first win of the meeting.
The Irish rival beat Sir Michael Stoute’s Bay Bridge coach for a long time, with Grand Glory in third place.
Former winner Lord North was slow to start, while Japanese rival Shahryah finished fourth.
State of Rest was adding to the top-tier Group 1 victories in the US, France and Australia.
O’Brien, 29, had won Prince of Wales’s Stakes himself as a jockey 10 years ago aboard So You Think, coached by his father Aidan, and praised Crosse’s leading tactics.
“It was a brilliant ride with a tough horse. It’s very special to get a winner here,” the winning coach said.
“We love the game and we’ve joined the game and having a big winner here is what we do.”
It’s another big race success for O’Brien, who has also won the St Leger, the Irish Derby, the Irish Gold Cup and the Melbourne Cup as a coach.
Crosse had missed the trip with O’Brien’s Leger 2020 winner Galileo Chrome when he was replaced by Tom Marquand due to a positive Covid test.
“This is an absolute dream, there is no other way to describe it,” Crosse said.
Lord North, under the command of Frankie Dettori, gave way at the exit as the jockey struggled to remove the horse’s bandage as the stalls opened.
The photographic finish of the Queen’s Vase, in which Eldar Eldarov (the nearest) has just passed Zacharias
There was a spectacular finish at the Queen’s Vase when 5-2 favorite Eldar Eldarov, coached by Roger Varian, rose in the final steps under David Egan.
Eldar Eldarov, named after the MMA fighter by Bahrain owner Shaikh Khalid, won by the shortest possible distance from a Zachariah nose, with Hafit in third place.
“We have the second credit, he made a great run, we’re all happy and he was on the wrong side of a tight photograph, so I feel for the second,” Varian said.
Kiwi jockey James McDonald, who was successful with Nature Strip on Tuesday, got a second winner of the meeting with Dark Shift at the Royal Hunt Cup.
The 13-2 opportunity triumphed for coach Charlie Hills of Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Intelligent 40-1.
Chapple-Hyam took the Duke of Cambridge Stakes with Saffron Beach, the 5-2 joint favorite, in the hands of William Buick.
French Ascendant Christopher Head’s first Royal Ascot runner, Sibila Spain, was withdrawn after briefly lowering her head under the front of the stops.
Saffron Beach, runners-up in last year’s 1,000 Guineas, won by three and a half lengths with a 40-1 shot at Thunder Beauty, ridden by Danny Tudhope.
Tudhope had secured a third consecutive win at the meeting, as the 5-2 favorite, Dramatized, was left with an impressive Queen Mary Stakes inaugural winner for coach Karl Burke.
The rider, who had the last two winners on Tuesday, dropped his whip when there was still more than one furlong left, but made little difference as his mount cleared.
After a nightmare start aboard King’s Stand’s favorite Golden Pal on Tuesday, there was more misfortune for Irad Ortiz Jr., who was sent off for five days for his trip in the fourth-ranked Love Reigns.
He was found guilty of driving carelessly after his mount swerved to the left, causing Omniqueen to break his heels in the resulting congestion.
Aidan O’Brien got his first win of the 2022 rally as the 6-5 favorite Little Big Bear prevailed over the Windsor Castle Stakes.
Jockey Neil Callan celebrated his first victory at the Royal Ascot since returning from a stay in Hong Kong, leading Marco Botti’s Rising Star 40-1 to victory at the Kensington Palace Stakes.
Botti was the 14th winning coach other than 14 races.
What to keep in mind on Thursday
Stradivarius, Frankie Dettori’s mount for coaches John and Thady Gosden, will be looking for a fourth Golden Cup that matches the record, but will have to beat the highly valued Kyprios by Aidan O’Brien.
Dettori, the current leading Royal Ascot jockey with 76 career winners, is also set to mount a stable companion Reach For the Moon, owned by the Queen. The horse is the favorite to win the Hampton Court Stakes.
The Queen, who has not yet attended this year’s meeting, also has Saga at Britannia Stakes and Tactical at Buckingham Palace Stakes.