Shock Dream Boat win at Royal Ascot keeps Adam Kirby buoyant
Jockey Adam Kirby admitted struggling to come to terms with a whirlwind week after continuing his Royal Ascot success with victory on 16/1 shot My Dream Boat on Wednesday.
Kirby, who tasted glory on Tuesday just hours after his partner had given birth to a boy, added a second Group One winner in as many days by landing the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
The Clive Cox-trained My Dream Boat surged to the narrowest of wins over Ryan Moore and Found, as Japanese favourite A Shin Hikari – Flat racing’s highest rated horse – finished last of six runners.
“I woke up this morning and you’re thinking ‘is it true?’ I don’t know how I’m going to believe today, though,” said Kirby.
“I can’t believe it; chuffed to bits with him. I thought I had every chance of being in the three – deep in my heart I did – but to pull it out of the bag and lengthen like he did is indescribable.”
Kirby’s win followed his triumph on Profitable in the King’s Stand Stakes 24 hours earlier, having dashed to Ascot from hospital, where he had left partner Megan in the final stages of labour.
Day two of Royal Ascot’s other highlights included American filly Lady Aurelia justifying her 2/1 favouritism by romping to a seven-length victory in the Queen Mary Stakes.
Wesley Ward’s two-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy prompted comparisons with the great Frankel with a sprinting masterclass, and had jockey Frankie Dettori and rival connections gushing.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Dettori. “When I got to the furlong and a half I asked her to go and she found another gear. I was completely shocked. Unbelievable.”
Harry Herbert, racing adviser to Al Shaqab, whose Al Johrah was a distant second, called Lady Aurelia’s run “the best two-year-old filly performance I’ve ever seen in my life”.
Dettori completed a double with 11/4 favourite Persuasive in the Sandringham Stakes.
Both wins were part of a treble for Sheikh Mohamed’s Godolphin empire, which also celebrated the French-trained 9/4 favourite Usherette’s success in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes.