Amo Racing, Mrs. R O’Callaghan, G De Aguiar’s Valiant Force produced one of Royal Ascot’s biggest upsets June 22 when he won the £110,000 Norfolk Stakes (G2) at odds of 150-1, earning a guaranteed start in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) via the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In.
The Kentucky-bred two-year-old is a son of Malibu Moon from the unraced mare Vigui’s Heart, a daughter of Quality Road and Canadian-bred stakes winner Blue Heart. Blue Heart, bred by Anderson Farms in Ontario, won the Bison City and Mazarine Stakes in her racing career. Blue Heart’s half-sister By Golly Miss Molly is the dam of impressive two-year-old winner Pennick, who won at Woodbine earlier this month.
Winning trainer Adrian Murray, who has a small stable in Rathowen, Co. Westmeath, Ireland, had never had a Group winner and trained only five winners on the flat before last year, and Valiant Force was a maiden coming into the race.
Yet the colt ridden by Rossa Ryan was a decisive winner of the 5-furlong race, hitting the front at the quarter pole. He was driven out to beat Mac (GB), with 7-4 favorite Elite Status (GB) third. American Rascal, the 4-1 second choice, trained by Wesley Ward, finished 13th of 14. The winning time was :59.75 on a course rated good to firm.
Valiant Force was the biggest-priced winner of the Norfolk Stakes and the joint highest-priced winner ever at Royal Ascot, a record held solely by 2020 Coventry Stakes (G2) winner Nando Parrodo (GB) until Thursday.
His victory ended a run of high-profile big race near-misses for Amo Racing, run by football agent Kia Joorabchian, who has pumped significant sums of money into racehorse ownership.
Earlier this month King Of Steel carried the Amo Racing colors into second place in the Betfred Derby (G1) at odds of 66-1. Last year, his horses filled second and third places in the Norfolk Stakes after encountering interference from the winner, The Ridler (GB), an outcome the owner took to appeal only to have it dismissed. They were among eight previously placed finishes for Amo at the meeting.
Joorabchian said: “For Adrian Murray this means the world, and I don’t have words to describe this moment. To have my first winner in the Norfolk Stakes which we lost in such a cruel way means the world. We have worked for this.”
Joorabchian, who represents some of the world’s top soccer players, continued: “This is one of the best sports in the world. For someone like us to finally win one kind of shows that you don’t have to be one of the really big guys to come in and make a little bit of difference.
“We are competing and most importantly competing at a very high level. To come second in the Derby twice and then finally to win a Royal Ascot race we’ve been knocking on the door of, now we can stop muttering.”
Murray said: “I can’t believe it. I fell into racing by accident. A friend of mine got me involved in the flat. It’s magic. We were third here on Tuesday [in the Coventry Stakes] and I wondered if that would ever happen again.
“We knew Valiant Force was a nice horse and I couldn’t believe the price – he was only beaten less than a length by His Majesty first time out and was 150-1 today. It didn’t make sense – I knew he was much better than that.”
***
His Majesty KING CHARLES and Her Majesty QUEEN CAMILLA celebrated their first Royal Ascot win when DESERT HERO, bred by Queen Elizabeth II, charged to victory in the King George V Stakes.
From ITV news:
The late Queen Elizabeth II visited the Royal Ascot winner’s enclosure multiple times during her reign, but it is the first time the royal silks have been carried to success at the summer showpiece since the King was crowned.
Trained by William Haggas, the son of Sea The Stars was sent off at 18-1 in the hands of Tom Marquand and although catching the eye as he made stealthy progress turning for home, there was still plenty of work to do. Desperate for the gaps to appear, Marquand maneuvered his mount to perfection as he sought the perfect passage to the front, and when joining the leaders inside the final furlong Desert Hero stuck his head out with real bravery to hold off the spirited challenge of Valiant King in second.
“Coming into the paddock wearing royal colours, whether you think you’ve got a chance or not, is special in itself. Explaining your tactics obviously holds a bit more pressure because you’re expected to stick to them – there’s no blagging your way out of it when His Majesty and Her Majesty are here. It’s fantastic, Royal Ascot is where everyone wants to be and to wear these colours, it’s quite an emotional winner.”
The late Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Tindall, said: “I just think how excited my grandmother would have been. To have a winner for Charles and Camilla and to keep that dream alive was incredible, and what a race – asides all of that, what a race. I was stood with Sheikh Fahad (owner of the runner-up) and the horses were either side, pulling their way up to the line, and it was incredible.
“I think it is a new excitement (for the King), like all those owners here who come here with horses, they have dreams and hope, and to follow it is incredible. Horses are the main game here – that’s why we get involved, we love them, the competition, the feelings are indescribable.”
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
