Royal Ascot 2019: Crystal Ocean wins Prince of Wales’ Stakes
- Published
Crystal Ocean (black) wins the Prince of Wales' Stakes by a length-and-a-quarter from Magical (purple and white)
Jockey Frankie Dettori is possibly even better than the legendary Lester Piggott after his double success on day two of Royal Ascot, according to trainer Mark Johnston.
Dettori rode the Johnston-trained Raffle Prize to victory in the Queen Mary Stakes.
He then won feature race the Prince of Wales' Stakes with Crystal Ocean, his 62nd winner at Royal Ascot.
"He is a superstar at the top of his game," said Johnston.
Johnston says Dettori now deserves to be seen at least on a par with 11-time champion Piggott, who is considered one of the greatest flat racing jockeys of all time.
"On the big day, he is special. No disrespect to Lester Piggott, I grew up with him, he's a superhero. But to not call Frankie on the same terms would not be fair on Frankie as he has been the most fantastic jockey for British racing," added Johnston.
Crystal Ocean, priced at 3-1, won the Prince of Wales' Stakes ahead of 13-8 favourite Magical with Waldgeist third.
It is a first Group One win for the five-year old and an 80th Royal Ascot success for trainer Sir Michael Stoute
"He's a high-class horse. I'm delighted to have won a Group One with him now. He's a very admirable," said Stoute.
Earlier on Wednesday Dettori rode 18-1 shot Raffle Prize to success in the opening race of the day - the Queen Mary Stakes.
The Wesley Ward-trained Kimari finished second by a head after being chased down by Raffle Prize close to home with 6-1 favourite Final Song third.
The second race of the day saw 6-1 Dashing Willoughby, ridden by Oisin Murphy and trained Andrew Balding, win the Queen's Vase by half a length ahead of Barbados with Nayef Road in third.
Balding revealed after the race that Dashing Willoughby was lame over the weekend and was very close missing the race.
"They have worked through the night to get it sorted. I'm proud of their achievement," said Balding.
Jockey Danny Tudhope secured his third winner of the week on board the William Haggas-trained Move Swiftly in fourth race of the day - the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes.
Tudhope timed his charge perfectly in the final furlong as the 9-1-priced filly finished narrowly ahead of Rawdaa to deny Dettori and Stoute another victory with 7/2 favourite I Can Fly in third.
Afaak, ridden by Jim Crowley, was priced at 20-1 but won a thrilling Royal Hunt Cup in a photo finish from Clon Coulis with Raising Sand coming in third. It means the Charlie Hills-trained horse went one better after finishing second in the same race 12 months ago.
Trainer Aidan O'Brien secured his 68th Royal Ascot win as Ryan Moore rode 7-1 Southern Hills to success in final race of the day the Windsor Castle Stakes.
Jockey Christophe Soumillon rallied The Platnium Star up the rail but was edged out in the closing stages with Glasvegas finishing strongly in third.
Thursday is Gold Cup day at Royal Ascot with last year's winner Stradivarius among the runners in the feature race of the week along with Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter.
Analysis
Cornelius Lysaght, BBC horse racing correspondent
Comparing the generations is an invidious task, made more complicated by differing factors as the years go on; as far as Royal Ascot is concerned Piggott rode nearly twice as many winners as Dettori - and completely dominated - in an era when the fixture was shorter than today's five afternoons.
These days, however, the racing world is ever more competitive with power concentrated in fewer hands and there are plenty of powerful operations to which Dettori doesn't really have access. But seeing him on a horse at Ascot 'sitting pretty' before winning isn't really sport - it's more like art.