Princess Highway prevails in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot on 21st
June, 2012
Princess Highway, landed the perfect race for her trainer D.K. Weld, when she scored in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Ascot on 21st June, 2012. She took the 1 mile, 4 furlong track by storm under the command of rider, P.J.
Smullen.
The daughter of Street Cry, out of mare Irresistible Jewel, walked in the hoofprints of her dam, Irresistible Jewel, who landed this race for Weld a decade ago.
The bay filly has truly inherited the skills of her mother, and raised her esteem with this enormous victory.
The winning trainer reflected on the performance of his runner and happily stated to the press that:
"It's nice to come back and win the same race we won a number of years ago with her dam. She's been a backward filly but progressed well during the spring and she beat the winner of the Epsom Oaks (Was) convincingly last time out.”
The Moyglare Stud Farm owned filly was a long-shot, but benefited from the good to soft track, and with the talented rider on her back, she defeated, The Fugue, by an immense margin of 6 lengths.
The Hughie Morrison trained, Shirocco Star, finished in third place, a short-head behind the runner-up.
The trainer stated he did not run the bay filly at Epsom because it came too soon after her victory at Naas, which she claimed by defeating the Kevin Prendergast trained, Aaraas, in the Group 3 Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Blue Wind
Stakes on 16th May, 2012.
The trainer discussed her future options, and said that she might run in the Yorkshire Oaks. He stated that he will look forward to the filly’s performance year after year.
The Fugue and Princess Highway might collide again in the Yorkshire Oaks. Trainer John Gosden, stated that the good to soft surface of the track did not benefit his runner as he commented:
"The winner is very smart and we were beaten fair and square, but I'm disappointed it rained because my filly is much better on good to firm ground. We'll freshen her up for the Yorkshire Oaks."
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