The Queen's Ascot team gets a major boost as King's Lynn seals Probert treble
Saturday: Cazoo Temple Stakes, Haydock
There will be no first Derby triumph for the Queen next month but the sport's most famous owner is mopping up other races and will have a genuine shot at Group 1 glory on Royal Ascot's opening day following King's Lynn's success in the Cazoo Temple Stakes.
Reach For The Moon, who racing fans had hoped might carry the Queen's silks at Epsom, will instead be aimed at the royal meeting, during which King's Lynn last year ran into trouble when seventh in the King's Stand Stakes and third in the Wokingham.
This year the King's Stand was nominated as the ideal option by David Probert, whose 209-1 Haydock treble was sealed in the most special fashion as he gave the five-year-old's owner-breeder her third victory of the week.
Watch again: King's Lynn wins Temple Stakes for the Queen
Bookmakers now make King's Lynn no bigger than 14-1 to triumph on the Ascot Tuesday, when his opponents are set to include America's Golden Pal and Australian champion Nature Strip, plus the Temple's head second Twilight Calls and last year's Nunthorpe Stakes heroine Winter Power, who could manage only eighth on her seasonal reappearance.
"He has deserved to win a race of this calibre," said Probert of the Andrew Balding-trainer sprinter.
"All roads lead to Ascot now and I'm delighted he has got his head in front in Platinum Jubilee year.
"He has actually run very well in a King's Stand already, so he has shown he can compete at that level. He is now another year wiser, he's stronger and having this under his belt will stand him in good stead going to Ascot. I can see him being very competitive."
Henry Candy was saying the same about Twilight Calls, whose rider Adam Kirby found King's Lynn striking for home first at a crucial stage.
"He wasn't totally lucky in running but take nothing away from the winner," said Candy. "Adam said the faster they go, the better, so it shouldn't be a problem if Wesley Ward appears at Ascot. They go a million miles an hour in the King's Stand and hopefully it will be firm ground as well."
Winter Power, a massive market drifter here, is out to 20-1 for that contest, but trainer Tim Easterby noted she "slipped a little coming out of the stalls" and added: "She's fine. I just think she got a bit tired. She'll go to Ascot and we'll try to run her somewhere first."
Easterby certainly did not sound disheartened, while a broad smile was worn by Jake Warren, standing in for his father, royal racing adviser John Warren.
"He has been a very consistent horse," said Warren, adding: "It's an amazing result for Her Majesty."
Saturday's big-race reports:
Native Trail seals Appleby's place in history books with emphatic Curragh strike
'He's a super horse' - Ascot-bound El Caballo extends winning streak to six
Blackbeard heads to top of Coventry market after impressive Marble Hill win
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