King George V Stakes – Royal Ascot glory
By Andrew Atkinson
Secret State (4-1jf) tipped by fromthehorsesmouth.info landed the 19 runners King George V Stakes over 1m 3f on day 4 of Royal Ascot on Thursday – with each-way tip Israr (11-2), third.
“I didn’t expect to be where I was in the race – they either stay, or they don’t,” said winning jockey William Buick.
Charlie Appleby trained Secret State gained a head win over Deauville Legend (14-1), taking the £51,540 winner’s purse.
John and Thady Gosden trained Israr finished third; Savvy Knight (18-1) under James Doyle, finished fourth.
Buick, notching up his third Royal Ascot winner of the week, said: “I took the rail, after an opening. He’s inexperienced, but went again when he felt them coming. It’s great to ride a winner and I’ll keep focused.”
The Riddler (50-1) won the opening race Norfolk Stakes – after surviving a Stewards enquiry – after veering across the course, deemed not to have affected the result.
Richard Fahey trained The Riddler, under Paul Hanagan, edged right and hung badly left causing hampering, beating 7-4f Walbank by 1 3/4 lengths, with Crispy Cat a further neck, third.
Jockey Hanagan kept the race – but was handed a 10-days ban by the stewards.
Magical Lagoon (11-4) landed the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes fighting off fromthehorsesmouth.info tip William Haggas trained Sea Silk Road (15-8), under Tom Marquand.
“I’ve been knocking on the door and I said if I’m ever going to get a Royal Ascot winner hopefully it would be this week.
“I’m over the moon. The filly really dug deep after William came up beside me,” said jubilant winning jockey Shane Foley.
“She stays really well and was able to get upside and battled back,” said winning trainer Jessica Harrington.
