King George V Stakes report: Frankel on the board with Atty

17.30 Royal Ascot - King George V Stakes

1st Atty Persse 7/1
2nd First Nation 8/1
3rd Bear Valley 20/1
4th Drochaid 14/1

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Report

Atty Persse chalked up another landmark for Frankel as he became the stallion's first Royal Ascot winner in the King George V Stakes.

The star racehorse turned super-sire was twice a winner at the Royal meeting himself and Atty Persse followed in his hoofprints under a smart ride from 3lb claimer Kieran Shoemark.

He was quick to break from stall 22 and managed to tack across to the rail, allowing Atty Persse to settle on the heels of Never Surrender.

Shoemark had the Roger Charlton-trained Atty Persse (7-1) perfectly positioned and gave the signal two furlongs out, with the colt smoothly assuming the lead before striding on to lead home a one-two for Godolphin with First Nation second.

Bear Valley was third with Drochaid fourth.

Reaction

Kieran Shoemark: "This really is what dreams are made of. To get two rides here today for Mr Charlton, my boss, is fantastic.

"To get them for Her Majesty the Queen and the likes of Godolphin really is unbelievable.

"This horse is all guts. He travels so well and he's got such great character.

"He's done nothing wrong since he started his racing and I think he's won quite easy. It's fantastic.

"At home he does very little work, but he's got plenty of ability and I'm sure there's plenty more to come."

Roger Charlton: "We've had Frankel's first stakes winner (Fair Eva) and now we've had Frankel's first Royal Ascot winner, which is really good.

"They're all different, but they're very good-moving horses.

"This horse is very easy to train and we saw today that he stays a mile and a half very well.

"It was a good effort. Where he goes next, I don't know."

The trainer heaped praise on the young rider, saying: "Kieran gave him a great ride. He's a good boy who rides well.

"There's a lot of pressure riding in Godolphin's first colours having not ridden a winner at Royal Ascot before, but he rode it like a professional.

"His agent says he's the next Ryan Moore. I hope he's right."