Ten Bob Tony won the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot | report, reaction & replay

It appeared to be a stellar renewal of the Group 1 and Ten Bob Tony was unconsidered by the market on only his second run over a mile.

The Epsom Group 3 winner was held-up in a share of last as Opera Ballo took the field along, racing three to four lengths clear of Cicero's Gift who, in turn, was followed by Damysus and the 9/4 favourite Notable Speech.

The field began to close on Opera Ballo passing the two but More Thunder - who had been ridden along early - and Notable Speech only made gradual progress at best. In contrast, Ten Bob Tony made his ground easily towards the stands' side of the group and breezed to the front under Kieran Shoemark.

More Thunder got up for second with Opera Ballo third; the winning distances were half-a-length and a head.

Paddy Power cut Ten Bob Tony to 16/1 from 50s for the Sussex Stakes at the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

It was all too much for his emotional owner Simon Sadler who said: "This horse is named after my Dad. That was his nickname because he used to have 50p - 10 bob - stalls on the market at Blackpool. Dad’s not here today, he’s not in the best of health, but I’m sure he’s watched it and I bet he had more on it than I did!

“I’m blown away. I’m shaking. Tears down my face! Never in a million years did we ever think… Amazing ride. Now Ed’s going to be in a lot of trouble because we should have been running him over a mile for the past two years, rather than over seven furlongs!”

Successful trainer Ed Walker said: “We were paid up in the race, came out of Epsom really well and Simon Sadler is such a sporting guy. He owns a football club, he loves to have a go, loves the David v Goliath story.

“We came in here last year with Do Or Do Not who I wanted to run at Carlisle and he insisted he came here and ran in the Coventry and he finished second. We took on an odds-on chance in a Group 2 in France last year and we beat her.

“He’s well up for having a go and when the horse was as well as he was after Epsom, and we were thinking where are we going to run him for the rest of the season until the Foret we just thought we’d have a go. We came here just to try and scoop up some prizemoney and finish as close as we can. We agreed to sit last and pass as many as we could in the last furlong.

“At Ascot you can get away with horses who like a bit of dig on the straight course as Chris [Stickels] does an amazing job.

“A mile is max for him. I think we will see him in the Sussex Stakes next. He is just a really solid horse. We rode him cold, and like it can do at Ascot, it fell apart in the last furlong.

“Kieran was unbelievably patient and didn’t commit him too early. He saved energy for a finish. He is a legend. He is a super kind horse. I’m thrilled for Simon Sadler and TBT Racing. It is an amazing story as he was his first ever horse and he has now got over fifty in training worldwide.

“He won a Group 3 ten days ago, but Kieran gave him an absolute peach of a ride. He was very patient and the miracle happened.”

Rest of the reaction

William Haggas said of More Thunder: “He has run a great race. We are slightly disappointed not to win, but full credit to Ed, these young pups keep beating me in these Group 1 races.

“We chose to ride him closer to the pace today because we felt he was possibly out of his ground in the Lockinge, but I don’t think that was the right thing personally. I think that is the way to ride him and let him find his feet. Let him spend the first four or five furlongs organising himself and building up for a big finish.

“Tom [Marquand] felt he was just always asking him to keep his position, and the winner came from behind him, but that is not an excuse. These are tiny margins. I thought he did well to be second really. He battled hard.

“I feel personally that the Jacques le Marois would be a better race than the Sussex Stakes, but it will be one of those next time. For sure there is a Group 1 in him. To me he looks like he might get a mile and a quarter, but Tom wasn’t sure. He felt it was the first bit that was possibly not the right thing to do today, but they went hard. He is a good horse.”

Charlie Appleby said of his pair: "There's a headwind out there. It's tough to do what we tried to do.

"Opera Ballo got into a nice rhythm and was doing everything right but it was always going to be tough with that headwind. He stuck at it and we know what this horse wants, the Sussex, which we've always thought is tailormade for him. He had to come here and he's run a creditable race in third. On paper, it looks like they've gone hard. Ten Bob Tony has sat there stone cold last and looked like a fresh pair of legs at the two pole.

"Notable Speech I'm afraid you've got to say it's Ascot. He just doesn't turn up as the same horse. Two down, normally Will [Buick] would be taking back but he was asking him at that point. Once you do that on Notable Speech, you know you're not going to win.

"You could keep the eye on the Sussex with him or he could go back on his travels to France, before heading over to Canada and back for a Breeders' Cup. He owes us nothing. He's done and dusted in respects to his stallion career. I was delighted with Opera Ballo. Going forward, we know he wants a turning track, so we'll try again."

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