Racing:IMMORTAL VERSE confirmed the superiority of French three-year-old fillies as she led home a memorable one-two for the Collet family in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. The front two were not exactly locked together, with Robert Collet's Immortal Verse producing a stellar finishing kick to sprint two and a quarter lengths clear of Nova Hawk, saddled by the trainer's son Rodolphe.
Collet snr had been absent from this winner’s enclosure since the 1986 King’s Stand, when his fine sprinter Last Tycoon had carried the same white and green silks of Richard Strauss to victory.
Gerald Mosse’s three previous successes at the meeting had included this Group One in 1993.
And in a week when there have been plenty of examples of excessively positive riding, the vastly experienced international pilot took a more passive approach and treated the event as if he were in one of the typically slowly-run French races.
He was anchored at the back of the field around the home turn but with the 8 to 1 shot enjoying the rain-sodden turf more than many others, she took off around the wide outside and collected in style.
Nathaniel was a brilliant winner of the King Edward VII Stakes. John Gosden’s charge threatened to boil over in the preliminaries but was always travelling strongly through the race.
William Buick tracked leader World Domination into the straight before taking the 11 to 4 favourite to the front and the race was over.
The Ladbrokes St Leger favourite strode clear to score by five lengths from Firoente, who ran a race full of promise in second, with the Aidan O’Brien-trained Alexander Pope third.
