It's a King's Stand Domination by Lady Aurelia

No one has changed the Royal Ascot landscape in recent times like Wesley Ward and he delivered Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy) in pitch-perfect mood to capture Tuesday's G1 King's Stand S. and provide his stable with a scarcely-believable eighth success at the meeting. Always travelling easily for John Velazquez towards the stand's side, the 7-2 second favourite who was so imperious in last year's G2 Queen Mary S. was in the overall lead approaching the quarter pole and was clear and out of danger over 100 yards from the finish. At the line, she had three lengths to spare over last year's winner Profitable (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), with the 11-4 favourite Marsha (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) a head away in third. “I wasn't quite so sure this year and she had to show it to me, but she did,” Ward said. “She really came through again. She had a good winter off and I'm so happy for everyone at the farm and everyone who works with me. This is going to be a big summer, as this is a once-in-a-lifetime horse and the [G1] Nunthorpe [S. at York Aug. 25] is where I'd like to go next. We'll get her home and do what we did with the other one [Acapulco]. I would say, as the owners are so sporting, as long as she is healthy, happy and sound she will continue on next year.”

Tuesday, Royal Ascot, Britain
KING'S STAND S.-G1, £400,000, ASC, 6-20, 3yo/up, 5fT, :57.45, g/f.
1–LADY AURELIA, 121, f, 3, by Scat Daddy
1st Dam: D' Wildcat Speed (HotY & Ch. Imp. 3yo Filly-PR, GSW, $530,755), by Forest Wildcat
2nd Dam: Velvet Panther, by Pentaquod
3rd Dam: Blue Eyed Cat, by Great Above
($350,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP). O-Stonestreet Stables/G Bolton/P Leidel; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Wesley Ward; J-John Velazquez. £226,840. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Fr & SW-US, 6-5-0-1, $718,617. *1/2 to Titletown Five (Tiznow), SP-US, $105,078. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”stonestreet-bredraised”][bullet ad=”irt-shell”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″][bullet ad=”us-bred-ky-bred-keen-grad”]
2–Profitable (Ire), 130, h, 5, Invincible Spirit (Ire)–Dani Ridge (Ire), by Indian Ridge (Ire). (95,000gns Ylg '13 TAOCT). O-Godolphin; B-Con Harrington (IRE); T-Clive Cox. £86,000.
3–Marsha (Ire), 127, f, 4, Acclamation (GB)–Marlinka (GB), by Marju (Ire). O/B-Elite Racing Club (IRE); T-Sir Mark Prescott. £43,040.
Margins: 3, HD, HF. Odds: 3.50, 14.00, 2.75.
Also Ran: Muthmir (Ire), Take Cover (GB), Alpha Delphini (GB), Cotai Glory (GB), Signs of Blessing (Ire), Final Venture (GB), Goldream (GB), Ardhoomey (Ire), Priceless (GB), Willytheconqueror (Ire), Gracious John (Ire), Washington DC (Ire), Medicean Man (GB), Just Glamorous (Ire). Scratched: Ornate (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

TDN Rising Star Lady Aurelia set this meeting alight last year with her seven-length success in soft ground before capturing the G1 Prix Morny over six at Deauville in August, but was caught late on when third in Newmarket's G1 Cheveley Park S. in September. Reported to have bled during that contest, she was sent to Stonestreet to recuperate and it is testament to her toughness that she has re-emerged with such a vengeance. Showing why she broke new ground when becoming the first American-trained horse to receive a Cartier Award, she stepped up markedly on her return success in Keeneland's Giant's Causeway S. Apr. 15 with this demolition of some crack European sprinters.

Drawn away from the main pace early on, Lady Aurelia was unhurried by Johnny Velazquez who was content to use her natural speed to work her way into contention. As the habitual front-runner Take Cover (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) continued to turn the screw far side, the sole 3-year-old in the line-up was looming large in front of the packed stands and she was in control by the time the two-furlong marker was reached. As Profitable worked his way past Take Cover and Marsha stayed on in her usual manner in behind, Lady Aurelia found the extra gears that characterised her Queen Mary romp and scampered clear to just miss the race record by 1/100 second set by Miss Andretti (Aus) (Ihtiram {Ire}) in 2007.

Ward has no doubt that the winner can go on from here. “She loves it over here. We look forward to a really big summer and then the Breeders' Cup,” he said. “The owners are so excited. It is wonderful for American racing. She has immense talent and immense speed. Hopefully, with the experience she has now, she should get better and better.” Velasquez added, “It makes my job a lot easier when they do it like that. All I was worried about was her just using up too much energy in the first part of the race. What a feeling, when you ask a horse to run and they respond like that. You feel so comfortable and know they are running as fast as they can. It was a great feeling. When a horse is travelling so beautifully and responds right away when you ask, you can't get better than that. To come back here for a second time and do what she did today, she's got to be a special horse.”

Profitable was just adding to a red-letter day for the boys in blue and trainer Clive Cox said, “He is a proven group one performer and he has rubber-stamped that today. It would have been nicer if we had been drawn a bit closer together [with Lady Aurelia], but fair play to her.” Jockey James Doyle added, “The winner was drawn away from us. To be fair the better horses were all drawn high and I was drawn one and I had nothing to take me into it. He is a horse that only does enough when he gets there. I think if things had gone our way we could have been a little bit closer to the winner–but she is very good.” Sir Mark Prescott said of Marsha, “She got beaten a head by last year's winner and, of course, then there is Lady Aurelia. You know how fast this filly is and she was never on the bridle. It shows what a great race it was. She will just run in the group ones and twos from here. We cannot just wait for the l'Abbaye–we were quite lucky to get fast ground for that race last year–but we will run her somewhere before. I don't think Goodwood would quite suit her, but if she were in good knick we might go.”

D' Wildcat Speed was Horse of the Year and champion imported 3-year-old filly in Puerto Rico before capturing the nine-furlong GII Rampart H. by six lengths in the States. Her dam is the dual champion imported older mare in Puerto Rico who also produced two other stakes performers. There is one more to come after Lady Aurelia and that is a filly foal by Munnings.