Shock wins rock Royal Ascot G1's
ASCOT Cercene and Time For Sandals brought smiles to the faces of bookmakers on the fourth day of Royal Ascot on June 20, springing huge shocks in the two Group 1 races.
Cercene was at 33-1 ($160 on the Singapore tote) the longest price winner ever in the £725,750 (S$1.26 million) Coronation Stakes (1,600m). The Australian-owned filly by Australia fought back under Gary Carroll to beat French favourite Zarigana (Mickael Barzalona).
The win gave Irish trainer Joe Murphy, who had only had one previous runner at the meeting, his first Group 1 hurrah and easily his most prestigious win, and it comes on arguably the biggest stage.
"This is 50 years of work, that's what it is, of love and care, and all for the owners we have, all our people, it's just a whole group of people together," said Murphy, 70, who has been training since 1977.
"This is heaven on Earth."
For Carroll, it was his third Royal Ascot winner but also his first ever Group 1 winner anywhere, and due reward for flying back to Berkshire after riding in Ireland on Thursday.
"Hugely good horses are very hard to come by and sometimes only one comes along in a lifetime and I guess mine has," he said.
Harry Eustace has got a real taste now for Group 1 races at Royal Ascot. After breaking his duck with Docklands in the opener - the Queen Anne Stakes (1,600m) on Tuesday - he added a second in the £725,750 Commonwealth Cup (1,200m) with Time For Sandals, a shock 25-1 winner ($144).
Before her stunning win, Time For Sandals, a filly by Sands Of Mali, had one debut win at Kempton and four placings in five starts.
"I don't know, it has not landed yet," said Eustace. "You have to be very careful with Ascot. If you get your hopes up, it can bite you back."
For his father James, who Harry took over from, it was "magic".
"It is so wonderful," said Eustace senior, who also enjoyed success at Royal Ascot, and whose younger son David is having a great start to his Hong Kong training career.
"We tried to get Harry to go to university, we succeeded initially and he went to Edinburgh.
"He had two good years and a lot of fun before he dropped out and then took off for Australia and the racing bug bit."
For jockey Richard Kingscote, it was a seventh Royal Ascot winner, but first at Group 1 level, ending a run of 67 defeats at the meeting.
"I've had some nice horses but this will do the world of good," he said. "I'm delighted to ride a good winner for Harry, he's a gentleman, it's a happy yard."
Godolphin's Charlie Appleby was looking to end his three-year losing run, but hot favourite Shadow of Light never featured. AFP
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