Royal Ascot 2011-Immortal Verse wins Coronation Stakes, Nova Hawk finishes second
The Coronation Stakes was the Group 1 feature race on the Fourth day of the Royal Ascot 2011.
Run over a distance of one mile, this year’s field of 13 horses included Barefoot Lady, Claiomh Solais, Clinical, Elshabakiya, I Love Me, Immortal Verse, Joviality, Maqaasid, Richard Hannon’s Memory, More Than Real, Nova Hawk, Brian Meehan’s Theyskens' Theory,
American trainer Todd Pletcher’s More Than Real and Aidan O’Brien’s Together.
At 3:45 pm (GMT) the race took off as Memory struggled to run. Barefoot Lady started strongly too and gave a consistent performance throughout. At the two furlong pole Claiomh Solais slowed down while 4/1favourite Together, 8/1 Joviality, Barefoot Lady and
14/1 I Love Me all tried to get ahead but could not succeed. 6/1 Theyskens' Theory led till there were only two furlongs left, at which point Claiomh Solais took the lead.
Before taking the final turn to reach the finish line, 9/2 Nova Hawk was ahead of 8/1 Immortal Verse but jockey S Pasquier tried to stir a challenge but was blocked by I Love Me and Together.
Nova Hawk tried to recover but was not quick enough to win. On the other hand, Robert Collet's Immortal Verse quickened pace under Gerald Mosse and went from last place to the front of the pack in fifty yards, eventually winning by almost three lengths.
Nova Hawk ridden by S Pasquier finished second while 16/1 Barefoot Lady under Keith Fallon stood third. I Love Me and Together finished fourth and fifth respectively.
This is trainer, Robert Collet’s, second Ascot victory in twenty-five years, and, after the race he expressed his joy by saying:
“I knew she had the quality to win this and she was relaxed. She has a great turn of foot. I am so pleased to be able to celebrate today”.
Collet went on to say that she was the best filly he had trained, despite her disappointing behaviour at the stalls in the 1,000 Guineas Newmarket.
Coincidentally both Immortal Verse and Nova Hawk were trained by a French father-son duo. Nova Hawk’s trainer Rodolphe Collet jokingly said: “I think we should make a rule to retire old trainers”, about his father’s victory.
After this victory Immortal Verse’s future seems bright as she is now eyeing the Prix d'Astarte at Deauville and the Prix Rothschild where she will have to face Goldikova.
Immortal Verse is the only French-trained horse to have bagged the £250,000 Coronation Stakes in the past ten years. this was indeed an interesting mix of cultures as Joviality is owned by Princess Haya of Jordan, while Maqaasid, is owned by her brother-in-law,
Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid.
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