Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Tasleet was edged out of a dramatic Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot by The Tin Man on Saturday.
With just 100 metres to the line Jim Crowley had his whip in his right hand, but could not stop his mount from drifting markedly right towards Limato and Ryan Moore. On Limato’s outside was The Tin Man and Tom Queally, the Irish jockey known for partnering Frankel to all 14 of his victories, and they too hung in to squeeze Limato.
The Tin Man held on at the line by a neck, while Limato was three-quarters of a length behind Tasleet. The three had to be separated by a lengthy televised stewards’ inquiry.
Trainer William Haggas took the defeat on the chin.
“I’m delighted with the way the horse ran,” Tasleet’s trainer said.
“To run on fast ground today and soft ground last time at York shows that I’ve been an idiot not running him over six furlongs before now.
“I think in the last furlong it was one of those things. Jim said there was one hell of a headwind and they were blown all over the place. I’ll just have to swallow that.”
Richard Hills, Sheikh Hamdan’s former long-serving jockey and now assistant racing manager, never thought the result would be overturned.
“We squashed Limato,” he said. “If you are in a different country, things might be a little different, but we did lug in, but so did the winner.”
One of the primary threads to this week was the battle for supremacy between Godolphin and Coolmore and it went to the line before the Irish operation sealed it on countback with six winners when US Army Ranger finished third to Oriental Fox in the Queen Alexandra Stakes.
Aidan O’Brien, Coolmore’s retained trainer, was crowned top trainer for the third year in succession and for the eighth time in all with six wins. Ryan Moore also was the top rider for the seventh occasion in the past eight years also with six wins.
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