Ryan Moore rode his eighth winner at this year's Royal Meeting on War Envoy in the mile Britannia Handicap. The son of War Front displayed a good turn of foot under the three-time champion jockey to win by a neck.
The victory meant Moore equalled the modern-day record of eight winners at Royal Ascot, which he now shares with Pat Eddery (1989) and Lester Piggott (1975 & 1965).
Moore said: "I knew at about halfway that I was on the right side. Early on I was worried that there were faster, more fancied horses drawn on the other side. It was only the Richard Guest horse [Udododontu] that I was able to follow.
"War Envoy is a high-class horse and a strong run mile suited him down to the ground."
Moore has been in sensational form this week but the professional he is, the jockey was evidently frustrated that he had not also tasted success on Kingfisher - a fast-finishing second in the Gold Cup. When asked how he thought the week had gone, he replied: "I have to move on from the Gold Cup."
War Envoy came with a blistering run to win the Britannia Handicap, beating Udododontu, trained by Richard Guest, by a neck.
It was a fourth winner of Royal Ascot 2015 for trainer Aidan O'Brien - and an eighth for jockey Ryan Moore, which equals Pat Eddery's modern-day record for the meeting, set in 1989.
War Envoy, by War Front, was winning his first race since his debut at Naas in April, 2014. He finished last in the Prix du Jockey-Club, the French Classic, at Chantilly on his last outing. He was sent off at 10/1 for the Britannia Handicap.
O'Brien said: "I'm delighted. We probably did all the wrong things with him; we ran him in soft ground, we ran him over a mile and a quarter - it took us a while to learn what way to ride him, and obviously a mile on fast ground and taking your time with him works.
"Ryan gave him an absolute peach of a ride. Joseph [O'Brien] wanted to put a tongue-tie on, I wanted to put a hood and a tongue-tie on but he said no, just the tongue-tie, so that's what we did.
"Ryan is a marvellous jockey, probably the best I've ever seen. He's a total professional, extremely committed, has a great feel about a horse and a great feel about a race. He's an absolute gentleman to work with - we've worked with him very closely for the last three years, and for the last couple of years he's been very close to Joseph and very close to everyone. It's a privilege that he's riding for us."
