Reaching High out of luck for the King and Queen in Ascot Stakes Hopes of a winner for the King and Queen were dashed on the opening day of Royal Ascot, as the well-fancied Reaching High finished a never-nearer ninth in the Ascot Stakes. A first horse trained by Willie Mullins to carry the royal colours, Reaching High was the 11-4 favourite in the hands of Ryan Moore – but while he looked full of running rounding the home turn, he was all dressed up with nowhere to go against the rail and when he did eventually get out it was all too late. Up front Henry de Bromhead’s fellow Irish raider Ascending (20-1) knuckled down under Billy Lee in the concluding stages of the two-and-a-half-mile contest to beat Nurburgring, with the latter’s trainer Joseph O’Brien also saddling the third and fourth home in Comfort Zone and Leinster. Mullins said: “Ryan just said he got no run. He’s finished full of running, but just got no luck in running, so it’s disappointing. “Their Majesties are very easy, lovely people to train for and it’s a pleasure. There’s a bit more pressure when you train one for them at this meeting, but to bring one here with a real chance is what we like to do. Hopefully this fellow will show us how good he is at some stage later in the season.” Mullins added: “Poniros (17th) was probably a little too keen and had run his race before he got to the straight, so it’s back to the drawing board with him.” As for the winner, De Bromhead explained the Ascot Stakes was not even his first choice. “I’m delighted. I wanted to go for the mile and six (Copper Horse Stakes), I thought he had a great chance but he didn’t get in so we ran in this one and now we’ve won – happy days,” said De Bromhead. “He’s just a star. He was bought to go hurdling and he ran very well over hurdles but he never really loved it, so we said we’d go back on the Flat. “I think we’ll stay on the Flat, he seems to love it so I think we should. “Billy opted to go out and get a bit of light, the horse travelled beautifully and he gave him a super ride. He knew he had a kick so he used the kick a bit earlier than he had planned. “It’s amazing to win any of these races, we’re fortunate enough to train good horses. We’re very lucky.”
