Able Friend was unable to mount a challenge as Solow won his third Group I contest for the year when proving too good in Tuesday’s Group I Queen Anne Stakes (1 mile) at Ascot.
Able Friend looked to sweat up behind the barriers but had a trouble free run, covered up behind Night Of Thunder in sixth place, until two and a half furlongs out where the tempo lifted and he was the first to come under pressure.
Solow (11/8 fav.) had raced in the slipstream of early leader Toormore and when eased into running room by Maxime Guyon two furlongs out to go clear, pressed on his outside by Esoterique (16/1) through the final furlong but always holding the mare to score by one length.
Cougar Mountain (16/1) finished strongly for third with Able Friend unable to quicken and struggling home a well beaten sixth, the trip completed in 1:37.97.
Guyon told Racing UK he was always happy in the run.
“I had a very good run behind the leader, we did not go very fast and my horse relaxed,” Guyon said.
“When I hit the front I thought I might win easily and when Esoterique came at me, Solow went on again,
“We know he can stay a bit further so the mile today was to his advantage.”
Trainer John Moore was at a loss to explain the effort of Able Friend.
“It was disappointing, the jockey offered no explanation for the run. If I was going to look for one negative, when we saddled him up he wasn’t his usual self, he was on the toe.”
A five-year-old gelded son of Singspiel and trained by Freddy Head who won the Queen Anne in 2010 with Goldikova in the same ownership, Solow has won 10 of his 15 starts, the last seven in succession.
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Darryl Sherer