Equiano flies home in King’s Stand Stakes
The Ashes may already be this side of the world and the trophy for the King’s Stand Stakes is staying in Britain again.
The Australians sent two of their best sprinters, Nicconi and Gold Trail, as they tried to improve on a recent record of four wins in the last seven years in this Group One race but neither were quite good enough to beat a horse who was the first Spanish-trained winner at this meeting two years ago.
Then Equiano was trained by Mauricio Delcher-Sanchez, but this time he was giving Barry Hills the 24th winner of his career at the royal meeting, although the victory owed more than a little to the riding skills of the trainer’s son, Michael.
As the field broke from the stalls, Equiano stumbled and pitched badly. But Hills retained his composure and place in the saddle to have Equiano in front from early on. Equiano was leading after a furlong and both Bould Mover and Gold Trail, the Australian front-runner were working hard to even keep up. Despite edging off the stands’ rail in the final furlong, Equiano repelled all challengers to beat Markab by one-and-a-half lengths, with Bordelescott a neck away in third.
Gold Trail could never dominate and dropped back to finish 10th. Nicconi, the other Australian raider ridden by Frankie Dettori, was never able to get on terms. He was off the pace from the start and, after Dettori switched him for a stands-rail run, Nicconi seemed unable to unleash the late speed that he has shown when running in Australia.
“It’s taken a long time to win the King’s Stand I must say. He’s a very fast horse – as you could see he fell out of the stalls – he’s so quick. But he was always going to win today,” the trainer said.
A year ago Hills watched Royal Ascot from hospital as part of the affects of his treatment for throat cancer, but nothing his diluted his sharp sense of humour. “He’s a very fast horse and I thought he was going to win today. I was in hospital last year but it’s great to be back, this is the best party there is. Someone said to me the other day ‘what’s the best part of your day?’ I said ‘waking up in the morning’.”
His son was clearly moved by the victory, especially in terms of family significance. “He’s so quick out of the gates but he lost his footing and stumbled. Once he got back up he really turned the engine on. I went to the rail and he took off again at about the three-furlong mark.”
Equiano had appeared to have lost his way last season but has been rejuvenated this year when he has won three of his four starts. “We just didn’t quite get him right last year,” the jockey said. “He never disgraced himself in a race but he was never one hundred per cent. But he’s been training well this year and basically from his first start we knew we had him back again. He hasn’t put a foot wrong in his last three starts.
“He’ll stick to five furlongs and probably go for the Nunthorpe and then the Abbaye. I’ve won two Nunthorpes but this fella is so fast and goes so well from the start. Royal Applause [Equiano’s grandsire] was the same but he was a six-furlong horse and this horse is a five-furlong specialist. It was a real thrill going that quick. Someone beeped a car horn at the three-furlong pole and it made him go even faster.”
Referring to his father’s recovery from illness, Hills said: “It makes it very special. We all work extremely hard and the team at home are brilliant. We came here last year and the boss wasn’t here so we had to do it ourselves. It worked and he was leading trainer and this year we’ve started out on the right foot again.”
David Hayes, the trainer of Nicconi, said that the horse was likely to return to Australia now to take up stud duties rather than other race engagements in Britain later this summer. “Frankie said he probably could have got a place but the horse just didn’t travel,” Hayes said. "He needed six or seven furlongs today. We will sleep on it, but I think he will probably be retired now. He is a tremendous stallion prospect back home. Obviously, I am disappointed that he didn’t win, but at the same time he didn’t run terribly.”
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