Most Improved takes surprise victory in St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot
After a terrible outing earlier this season, Most Improved finally got it right, producing a shocking result in the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot on Tuesday, June 19th. Brian Meehan’s 3-year-old ran superbly to notch up the top
position by three quarter a length.
An early-season setback kept him out of the Craven Stakes and the 2000 Guineas and luck continued to stay away from him, when he was sent at Chantilly. The Group 1 Prix Du Jockey Club saw him finishing 14th on the table earlier this month.
Things changed rapidly for Most Improved, as he went through no difficultly under Kieren Fallon this time. He made a fine impression in the beginning, chasing the leaders quite decently. His wonderful work helped him become second ahead of the final few
furlongs.
The maverick runner was a treat to watch in the final stages of the race, as he kept enhancing his speed. Hermival and Gregorian tried to come closer, but Most Improved maintained a decent distance, not letting anyone spoil his party.
M. Delzangles’ 3-year-old, Hermival, surprisingly secured the second place. He was lucky to ensure the spot, as Gregorian was behind just by a head’s distance. Born To Sea was fourth whereas the fifth rank went to Gabrial.
The final result would have a huge setback for A. P. O’Brein, whose favourite runner, Power, failed to do anything special. Under JP O’Brein, he held up early on and after getting hampered, he was in no position to recover.
Meehan was delighted over his charge’s fantastic progress, saying that Most Improved has matured physically over the last few months. The trainer said:
"He was doing really good work (in the spring), he matured physically and today showed we were right. He's a lovely big horse with lots of scope. He's just been a little bit unlucky this spring.”
“He had a little bit of bone pain going through to his joints. It's pretty minor and we got good advice on how to manage it, but he's fine now. He ran in the French Derby where nothing went right and Kieren was pretty upset after the race when he got off,”
he added.
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