True Love gave Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore a second 2-year-old winner of the week at Royal Ascot with an authoritative performance in the June 18 Queen Mary Stakes (G2).
Second to subsequent Coventry Stakes (G2) winner Gstaad on her previous outing, True Love asserted in the closing stages, having been taken off her feet in the opening couple of furlongs.
However, as the race reached its closing stage, True Love began to pull herself back into the race and came to the fore at the furlong pole. At that point, she was comfortably holding her rivals all the way to the line of the five-furlong race. Moore rode the winner for Coolmore-affiliated owners Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Susan Magnier.
"She was second to a good filly first time and then our own colt beat her last time," O'Brien said. "Ryan gave her a lovely ride, and Michael (Tabor) always loved her. It's marvelous. She's like a 4-year-old, really. She's a big, mature, strong filly and something to look forward to."
"She's a tall, scopey girl. She'll be better suited when she goes six (furlongs)," added Moore. "She looked a bit different to the others at the start. She's a No Nay Never, and they're usually big, strong, powerful, fast 2-year-olds. The form was there."
Tabor felt she stood out among the other fillies in the race.
"We were pretty confident today," he said. "Aidan always said she was very fast, but in fact she probably wants a little further. The great thing about it is that the mother is in foal to City of Troy, and the sister to Wootton Bassett."
American participant Lennilu ran well in defeat, finishing third, beaten 1 3/4 lengths under Luis Saez. She raced within a few lengths of the pace and offered a bid in the center of the course. The gray and/or roan filly fell short of longshot Flowerhead in second.
The Queen Mary was marred by the Richard Hannon-trained Harry's Girl pulling up with a fatal injury.
The Patrick Biancone-trained Lennilu, a Florida-bred daughter of Leinster , lost for the first time. She scored two initial victories in the United States, the first at Keeneland in April and a second victory in May in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Gulfstream Park for owners Amy and Caitlin Dunne, Brenda Miley, Jean Wilkinson, Hoffman Family Racing, Tranquility Lake Farms, and Maury and Christopher Harrington.
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Havana Hurricane Takes Windsor Castle Stakes
Havana Hurricane cost just 9,000 guineas, but proved his purchase was an inspired investment with a dominant victory in the Windsor Castle Stakes Wednesday.
Last seen finishing second in the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom Racecourse June 6, the 2-year-old son of Havana Gold burst from the far-side pack to power home under Charlie Bishop, netting a £62,381 prize with a 1 1/2-length success over Dickensian.
It was a dead heat for third—involving European-based horses with American connections—as Azizam, owned by a partnership headed by Black Type Thoroughbreds, tied with Resolute Racing's Rogue Legend for the show spot.
Tom Brockley, Dew Sweeper, and R. A. Hill's Tough Critic, a New York-bred Keeneland maiden winner trained by George Weaver, finished 11th beneath Flavien Prat. He was beaten six lengths and finished one length behind Wyle Cop, a son of Omaha Beach bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. William Pape.
Havana Hurricane becomes the final winner of the Windsor Castle in its current format, with the race set to have sire-based restrictions and extended to six furlongs next year.
Trainer Eve Johnson Houghton has been critical of the changes to the race, but her first thoughts after victory were of her father Fulke, who died in February.
"I'm missing my dad; he'd have been proud," she said. "It's great. He'd be the first person I'd ring."
She added: "Didn't Charlie give him a beautiful ride? He got slated for his ride at Epsom, unfairly, and he gave him an absolute corker. I couldn't be more proud of my jockey."
Bishop was also pleased to banish memories of his Woodcote defeat with his third Royal Ascot winner, having last won at the meeting on Chipotle in this race in 2021.
"One winner is the sort of thing you dream of, so to have three is incredible," he said. "Once you ride the first one it's very hard to come here and not ride winners, so the second one was amazing and I've waited a few years for this one.
"Eve is magic at buying these horses, training them, she does all the hard work and I just do the steering. It's a lovely job to have. That one is for Fulke. He was amazing to all of us."
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