It wouldn’t be Royal Ascot without an American-trained winner and George Weaver’s filly Crimson Advocate (9/1) ensured there was USA success this week with a nail-biting victory in day two’s opening Queen Mary Stakes.
The Kentucky-based trainer was enjoying Royal Ascot success for the first time following his filly's gritty victory this afternoon.
As expected, the pace was frantic in the early stages with Princess Chizara showing plenty of dash to lead the far-side group. However, entering the final couple of furlongs it was clear the near side had the advantage and Crimson Advocate could be spotted travelling kindly towards the head of affairs.
It looked as though victory was in the bag well inside the final furlong, but she had to display plenty of heart and determination following a sustained dual with William Haggas' Relief Rally (5/1). The Haggas-trained filly did just that in the closing stages but perhaps didn't do her chances any favours by hanging up much of the Ascot straight.
Connections of Crimson Advocate were certainly made to sweat as the judge pondered over the tightest of photo finishes but after some deliberation, she was eventually called to have clung on by a diminishing nose.
The 11/4 market leader Bright Diamond stayed on nicely in the closing stages to finish a further two lengths back in third with Juniper Berries (18/1) grabbing the fourth spot.
Trainer George Weaver said: "I have so much respect for the horses over here. It always seems like the European horses are better grass horses than what we have, but I knew our filly was very talented and I was hoping that she would be able to get the job done. Don't get me wrong, the way she won at Gulfstream, I was very excited about her, but like I said, I have tremendous respect for the trainers and horses that are over here.
"I came here eight years ago with a horse [Cyclogenesis] that wasn't good enough. I thought it would be great if I could ever come back with something that was, and we did. When you try to plan things, you try to buy horses for Ascot, it never works out. Things just come together, and this year we've got two nice horses to bring over here.
"Royal Ascot is Royal Ascot, what can you say? You can feel the electricity when you're here and how special it is, and it's a beautiful feather for us to have in our cap. It's not the biggest purse I've ever won – Vekoma was a tremendous racehorse and I won the Dubai Golden Shaheen early on in 2005 [with Saratoga County]. I've had some great moments, but this ranks right up there."
It was a fourth victory at the meeting for Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez who added: That was close, but I'm glad Crimson Advocate held on. We knew she was going to be really fast coming out; we tried to get her on the best path for the firmer ground. From yesterday to today, the turf is a little bit firmer, so it's better for our horses and she showed up today.
"I rode two races yesterday and the ground was a little soft for our horses – Wesley Ward's horses break fast and they had a hard time to keep the pace. Today is a little drier and our horses handle it better.
"I saw her run in Florida when she won, and I was like, I want to ride that horse at Royal Ascot! I actually texted the trainer right away saying I wanted to ride her.
"In the race she was going so well, but I probably made a little premature move thinking I would get away from them and then hold on. In hindsight, I almost messed up the race and should have waited. She handled it better than I did!
"It's great to be here and to have another winner, and it's great for George. His wife had a very bad accident a year and a half ago and they didn't think she would walk again, so for her to be here is a miracle.
"It is a dream come true coming here and I try to come whenever I can. It is a special place and it's great to come here and have winners."
