Little Bridge claims King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot
C. S. Shum’s New Zealander, Little Bridge, completed his hat-trick in great fashion, sealing an easy win in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes (British Champions Series & Global Sprint Challenge), held on the opening day of Royal Ascot Meeting, June 19th.
After making a couple of terrible trips at the start of this season, the 6-year-old managed to get his act together at Hong Kong. He grabbed two back-to-back wins at Sha Tin and as a result, stepped into this competition with plenty of confidence under his
belt.
On good to soft, the bay gelding continued his fabulous run and clinched the top position with ridiculous ease. Under Zac Purton, the dashing runner chased the leader in the beginning and kept doing well till the end, bagging the winning prize worth £198,485.00.
Bated Breath came at him in the final furlong, but Little Bridge succeeded in beating him by ¾ a length. Roger Charlton’s charge challenged the leader in the final moments, but could not do anything special.
Sole Power also ran well to notch up the third place. Since the ground eased to good to soft overnight, the Edward Lynam-trained’s participation was doubtful ahead of the race. Despite the unfavourable conditions, the 8-1 chance did a fantastic job, but
remained unlucky, missing the runner-up place by a length’s distance.
Running a career-best, Medicean Man finished fourth whereas the fifth spot belonged to Spirit Quartz. Ortensia and Wizz Kid, who were declared the 9-2 joint favourites, failed to live up to the expectations and respectively finished ninth and tenth on the
chart.
Purton said: "He travelled like the winner the whole way and I was always confident. When I came up the rise, I knew I had a lot of horse left and I knew it would take a good one to beat me. Danny and I both came here pretty confident in the horse, so we
expected something. Hopefully it is just the start of a good week for Australians."
Shum added: "I'm very happy and Zac did a very good job. My team have done a really fantastic job and I don't know how to say how happy I am."
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