The excitement of Royal Ascot's second day sees the Queen Mary Stakes Group 2 (19th June, 2013). This 5f race for two-year-old fillies is named after Queen Mary the consort of King George V. The race was first run in 1921 with Wild Mint proving victorious.
In 2004, the Queen Mary was upgraded from Group 3 status.
From a historical perspective, Sir Gordon Richards is the leading jockey with 5 wins (Supervisor 1932 - Apparition 1946). While Fred Darling has trained 7 winners.
Since the 1990s Richard Hannon & Mick Channon have achieved great success with a number of talented fillies. This race has been a tip for future juvenile successes. Lyric Fantasy, Gay Gallanta, Blue Duster, Attraction & Queens Logic where all awarded the title of European Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. Many others have been made favourite for the 1,000 Guineas, including the ill-fated Bint Allayl, who was trained by Mick Channon. One of the most successful winner was seen in 2003. Attraction, a small filly with terrible conformation, trained by Mark Johnston and ridden by Kevin Darley, won by three lengths. This exceptionally gifted filly went on to win both English & Irish 1,000 Guineas.
Famous past winner:
Ceiling Kitty
This bay filly, a daughter of Red Clubs, is trained by Tom Dascombe. Andrew Black - one of the founders of Betfair - and The Master Bettors owned this tough juvenile. She was bred at Black's stud in Cobham, Surrey.
Ceiling Kitty was sent to the Tattersall October Yearling Sales where she was bought by the vendor for 16,000gns.
This February foal started her career in a fillies' maiden at Kempton. Starting 11/4f she finished a creditable second after a terribly slow start. In April she made her second start at Beverley over 5f on testing ground. By all account this was a disappointing performance. The joint favourite could only finish fourth of ten, beaten a number of lengths.
Clearly connection held this filly in some regard but so far all had not gone to plan.
However, a return to Kempton saw a professional third start to win by half a length.
Dascombe's charge was one of the outsiders for the Marygate Fillies' Stakes Listed contest at York over 5f. Early season hot shot, Bailey's Jubilee, was an odds-on favourite but ran poorly. Ceiling Kitty ran on strongly to win by two lengths at 20/1. Many considered this a surprise victory.
Her next target was the Queen Mary Stakes Group 2 at Royal Ascot, 2012. Although priced at 20/1, seemingly second string to the stable's debut winner Upward Spiral, she made the most of her experience winning by a length from Michael Bell's Hoyam who finished with great gusto. Once again, Ceiling Kitty defied the odds beating twenty six rivals bagging a prize of over £42,000.
After a month on the sidelines she contested the Flying Childers Stakes Group 2, which featured some of the fastest two-year-olds in training. Finishing 4th, beaten less than two lengths, was a bold effort over this 5f dash. Hoyam finished a place behind.
Her penultimate race saw her competing at the highest grade: the Jaguar Cheveley Park Stakes Group 1 at Newmarket. Here she would attempt 6f for the first time. Finishing 7th behind Rosdhu Queen was no disgrace.
The finale to a sparkling two-year-old season saw her fly to the Unites States being the only European runner at Santa Anita's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint over 6f. Tom Dascombe commented: ''She's tough and has experience. If she gets 6f on dirt she has some sort of chance and she probably doesn't need to be to top class to win this race.'' However, this bonny filly never looked happy and was bustled to the front only to finish last.
The excitement of Royal Ascot's second day sees the Queen Mary Stakes Group 2 (19th June, 2013). This 5f race for two-year-old fillies is named after Queen Mary the consort of King George V. The race was first run in 1921 with Wild Mint proving victorious.
In 2004, the Queen Mary was upgraded from Group 3 status.
From a historical perspective, Sir Gordon Richards is the leading jockey with 5 wins (Supervisor 1932 - Apparition 1946). While Fred Darling has trained 7 winners.
Since the 1990s Richard Hannon & Mick Channon have achieved great success with a number of talented fillies. This race has been a tip for future juvenile successes. Lyric Fantasy, Gay Gallanta, Blue Duster, Attraction & Queens Logic where all awarded the title of European Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. Many others have been made favourite for the 1,000 Guineas, including the ill-fated Bint Allayl, who was trained by Mick Channon. One of the most successful winner was seen in 2003. Attraction, a small filly with terrible conformation, trained by Mark Johnston and ridden by Kevin Darley, won by three lengths. This exceptionally gifted filly went on to win both English & Irish 1,000 Guineas.
Famous past winner:
Lyric Fantasy
This Irish bred filly, owned by Lord Carnarvon & Susan Magnier, was trained by elite two-year-old handler Richard Hannon. She was bred by County Cork-based Minch Bloodstock.
Although an early, January, foal, this bay daughter of Tate Gallery was often quoted as being ''small or tiny'' and fondly named ''The Pocket Rocket'' which illustrated her ample pace to diminutive size.
Interestingly, Lyric Fantasy never raced at maiden class, starting her career at Windsor winning in the Lady Caroline Stakes in April, 1992. Clearly held in some regard by connections, she went to Sandown for the National Stakes Listed race. An impressive six length victory gave hope this was a juvenile of pure class.
Royal Ascot beckoned and she was priced 11/8f for the Queen Mary Stakes. Michael Roberts led all the way for an ''impressive'' five length victory. She excelled with an all-age course record.
Her blistering early pace left her opposition struggling and that was emphasized when taking a huge prize in the Super Sprint Trophy at Newbury. After a furlong this 2/5f hit the front, sprinting clear to win easily by six lengths. Richard Hannon commented: ''Her speed is breathtaking.''
In a bold move Hannon opted to go for the Nunthorpe Stakes Group 1 at York over 5f. Although two-year-olds have a handy weight advantage against their older counterparts, few took this route and winning a tough task. However, expectation was high for this tiny horse with an abundance of pace. Hold-up tactics were employed and Roberts' mount ran on strongly to win by half a length.
Bookmakers quoted prices as short as 14/1 for the 1,000 Guineas although there were concerns she would never get the trip of one mile.
Her final race of the two-year-old season saw her attempt six furlongs for the first time in the Cheveley Park Stakes Group 1 at Newmarket. In a small field of class performers she could never catch leader Seyyadati who had previously won the Moyglare Stud Stakes. Some questioned her race tactics of being held up.
Lyric Fantasy was sent to the 1,000 Guineas for her first race at three. Her only attempt at one mile saw her finish sixth of twelve. She wasn't disgraced being beaten by less than four lengths behind Cheveley Park Stakes victor Seyyadati, trained by Clive Brittain.
Dropping back for her next start over 6f saw a comfortable success.
However, her last two performance back at 5f proved disappointing. She finished unplaced in the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot & then last behind Lochsong in the Nunthorpe.
She was retired with total prize earnings of over £320,000. Not bad for a yearling who was sold for 12,500gns. At the end of her two-year-old season she was sold for 340,000gns. In 1992 she was named European Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and highest rated by the International Classification.
The Queen Mary Stakes Group 2 is run on the second day of Royal Ascot, 19th June, 2013. This race is for two-year-old fillies competing over 5f. It is named after Queen Mary the consort of King George V. First raced in 1921 it was won by Wild Mint.
In 2004, the Queen Mary was upgraded to Group 2 status.
From a historical perspective, Sir Gordon Richards won the most races with 5 victories (Supervisor 1932 - Apparition 1946). While leading trainer Fred Darling trained 7 winners (Margeritta 1924 - Apparition 1946).
Since the 1990s Richard Hannon & Mick Channon have achieved great success with a number of talented fillies. This race has been a tip for future juvenile successes. Lyric Fantasy (known as the ''pocket rocket''), Gay Gallanta, Blue Duster, Attraction & Queens Logic where awarded the title of European Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. Many others have been made favourite for the 1,000 Guineas, including the ill-fated Bint Allayl, who was trained by Mick Channon. Probably the most successful winner was seen in 2003 with Attraction, a small filly with terrible conformation. Trained by Mark Johnston and ridden by Kevin Darley, she won by a stylish three lengths. She was an exceptional talent going on to win English & Irish 1,000 Guineas.
