Ascot, England // Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook’s Rizeena shrugged off her disappointing run in the English 1,000 Guineas to power home to victory in the Coronation Stakes under Ryan Moore on Friday.
At the scene of her greatest triumph as a juvenile where she won the Queen Mary Stakes 12 months ago, Rizeena surged off a slow pace to easily fend off French raider Lesstalk In Paris and the fast-finishing Euro Charline.
Rizeena had bled from her nose after the English 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and, with six fillies behind her yesterday who also had run in that race, there is every reason to believe she should be a Classic winner.
After her defeat, there were many who had written off the filly, trained by the veteran Clive Brittain, and Sheikh Rashid did not disagree.
“I don’t blame them for thinking she hadn’t trained on from a juvenile, as she had two or three races where she didn’t do what we expected,” the owner said. “It is amazing to win a Coronation Stakes today. She loves Ascot.”
It was a huge fillip for Rizeena’s trainer, who, at 80, is one of the oldest trainers in the world still operating at the highest level.
Last year Brittain had danced in front of a crowd of 70,000 when greeting Rizeena home, but with a walking stick and a huge plaster on his face he still was jubilant.
“Days don’t get better than this,” Brittain said. “All she had to do was turn up and show what she could do.”
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