Profitable win for Daddy Kirby in King's Stand Profitable continued his flying start to the season with a thrilling success in the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. Clive Cox's four-year-old lined up for the five-furlong Group One in tremendous form having won his first two starts of the campaign, in the Palace House at Newmarket and the Temple Stakes at Haydock. Adam Kirby had the 4-1 shot buried in the middle of the pack early on, but he hit the front a furlong out and knuckled down to get the better of a protracted duel with Cotai Glory by a neck. Goken finished strongly to grab third. Hot favourite Mecca's Angel raced up with the pace before weakening rapidly and was bitterly disappointing. A tearful Kirby revealed his girlfriend had given birth to a baby boy just hours before. He said: "I think he's the best five-furlong horse I've ever ridden. " His cruising speed is phenomenal. I'm delighted for everyone involved, but, more importantly, I'm delighted for Clive. "My girlfriend gave birth to a baby boy a few hours ago, so it's all good." Cox said: "He's special, and you need a special horse to come here and do it. "He's pretty good. Every time it kept raining I was more concerned, but he travelled just so strongly. He's dug in and I'm really pleased. "I'm delighted for Adam as he's a proud father. With the new baby it's a very emotional moment for him - to ride a Group One winner, I don't think you can get a better day." He added: "We didn't enter him for the July Cup (Newmarket), because I think he is better over five (furlongs). "But the way he's toughed it out on soft ground, that reasoning is doubtful now. He is very fast, though." Charlie Hills said of Cotai Glory: "He ran a great race and thank goodness all his owners came over otherwise I would have taken him out. Ascot soft ground is a bit different to anywhere else. They are getting through it. "I am really pleased with the horse. Before the race he looked up for it and he had a couple of runs to sharpen him up. "I am looking forward to running him back on faster ground. We have got to keep York (Nunthorpe) firmly in the plans. Whether we take another race before that we will see what there is. I wouldn't mind trying him over six." Kevin Ryan said of Goken: "I am delighted with him. He had a little bit of a blip in his previous two runs so we tweaked a few things. The girl who rides him all the time said 'why don't you ride him out the back door like we ride him in work'. "He was a little bit unlucky, but take nothing away from the winner, as when you get a horse rolling then stopped it is hard to pick up again. "He is in the July Cup, but we will be minded by the fact he has gone well on this ground so we won't run him on really fast ground. The Abbaye could be the race set up for him."
