SLIM Jim was the king on the opening afternoon of Royal Ascot.
Jim Crowley was a lumpy price to be leading jockey at the Royal Meeting….but not any more!
The former champ rattled-up a first-day hat-trick headed up by the mighty Battaash in the King’s Stand Stakes.
And Crowley’s treble might have been a four-timer if he hadn’t run into more traffic than a London cabby on strongly fancied Mohaather (14-1 to 6s) in the Queen Anne Stakes.
Ryan Moore nicked that Group 1 on Circus Maximus, who drifted like a barge after getting hotter than a well-spiced vindaloo in the prelims.
The `king of grin’ has a soft spot for this Aidan O’Brien-trained hard nut and said: “He won the St James’s Palace here last year and won the Moulin at Longchamp. He has been a really good horse and this is his third Group 1.
“They had their chance to come and beat him, but he battled away and fought all the way. I am delighted with what he has done today.”
The boys over at Paddy Power’s headquarters were properly impressed with the winner and slashed him to 9-2 from 14s for the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.
By the way, there won’t be a more popular winner all week than William Muir’s Pyledriver in the King Edward VII Stakes.
Wily Willie is a proper diamond geezer and has been telling anyone with ears that this bargain basement colt is a class act.
Well, he hammered that point home and connections are itching to run him in the Derby next month.
Meanwhile, there were absolute fortunes for Frankly Darling (7-4 to 11-8) in the Ribblesdale Stakes and she had the race won from the moment Frankie Dettori waved adios at the two-pole.
This fast lady gave John Gosden his 50th Royal Ascot winner and if funtime Frankie has his way she’ll be lining-up in the Oaks at Epsom next month.
You can’t beat 4-1 about her winning there and the Newmarket gallop watchers reckon she’s a certainty.
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