The week had gone so well. Able Friend had seemingly bloomed away from home, connections were confident and expectations were high but ultimately Hong Kong’s star performer was unable to deliver the hoped-for victory in Tuesday’s G1 Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) at Royal Ascot.
Instead, it was a disappointed Able Friend camp that walked away from this high-profile international skirmish as Solow, the race favourite on-course and Europe’s emerging champion miler, collected the kudos and the prize. John Moore’s charge ran home eight and three quarter lengths sixth of the eight contenders.
“It’s a very disappointing run,” said jockey Joao Moreira as he walked back to the weighing room – a clutch of inquisitive, scurrying journalists thrusting recording devices his way. “He definitely did not bring his best today and the reasons why – we still don’t know. Hopefully there is nothing serious; hopefully it’s just that it’s his first trip out of Hong Kong; maybe it’s the uphill of the track.”
Able Friend had appeared slightly geed up in the pre-parade. The Shamardal gelding, who had been seeking a seventh consecutive win this term and fifth at G1 level, appeared relaxed when he began the journey to the start but upon reaching it, was sweating visibly and toweled down by a stalls handler. He travelled well enough through the race, about three lengths off the pace set by Toormore who had the Freddy Head-trained Solow as his shadow. But when push came to shove approaching the two-furlong pole, Able Friend was empty.
“When I got on him he was just a little bit more nervous – sweating a little – but that was not a big concern. He travelled nicely toward the last 450 metres but when I let him go he just didn’t pick up as he usually does,” said Moreira, who added emphatically: “He has done so much for me in the past – he is a very good horse.”
Moore was equally at a loss in the race’s immediate aftermath, but the fresh memory of Able Friend’s slightly edgy demeanour in the pre-race pressure cooker was clearly to the fore.
”He wasn't showing the same demeanor that he does at Sha Tin where he is always cool, calm and collected,” he said. “He was on the toe a little bit and maybe if you were looking for something you would blame that.
“When he was asked for his effort there was nothing in the tank, we have to put it down to the environment, and these sorts of trips do tend to take it out of horses,” he added. “We couldn't offer any real explanation. He just wasn't himself; as we would say in Australia - maybe he ran his race before the race.”
Winning jockey Maxime Guyon was expecting the big frame of Able Friend to loom up and threaten Solow. “I had a good race behind the leader, Solow did not pull and he had a very good turn of foot,” said the Frenchman, “I was waiting to beat Able Friend but he never came, so I thought I could win easily.” As it was, he had to work to hold the Andre Fabre-trained Esoterique by a length.
Head, who in 2010 saddled the great mare Goldikova to win this race for the triumphant owners, the Wertheimer family, paid tribute to Moore and Able Friend’s sporting owner Dr Cornel Li for making the long journey to challenge the best of Europe’s mile stars.
“Able Friend was not at his best,” said a magnanimous Head, who added with a smile, “I would like to have seen him finish second. But he didn’t run his race – he’s a better horse than that. It was very brave of them to come here and I thank them for that.”
Of his own champion, who burst onto the international scene with an imperious success in the G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) in March, Head said: “He’s a great horse. He’s so tough, he does what you like, he’s very easy to train and he always gives his best at home, the same as in the afternoon (in his races).”
The work was not done for Hong Kong’s record-setting jockey as Moreira was booked on Medicean Man two races later in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes. Drawn in gate one, the Jeremy Gask-trainee led at points in the late stages, only to be nosed out by Robert Cowell’s charge Goldream.
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Photo 1, 2
The John Moore-trained Able Friend (in black), with Joao Moreira on board, finishes sixth in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot Racecourse today. The Freddy Head-trained Solow (white cap), with Maxime Guyon aboard, wins the opener of the Royal Ascot Meeting.
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Photo 2
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