Causeway paves the way to another for O’Brien and Moore

Causeway ground down Ancient Egypt to extend his winning run to five in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Sent off the even-money favourite after early-season success in the Madrid handicap, Tetrarch Stakes and Group Three Gallinule Stakes most recently, Aidan O’Brien’s son of Wootton Bassett tracked the pace set by the forward-going duo of Golden Story and Ancient Egypt in the early stages of the Group Two event.

When the pace increased rounding the turn it was Charlie Johnston’s Ancient Egypt who made his bid for home looking to quickly bounce back from finishing down the field in the Derby.

Moore Tracks Ancient Egypt's Bold Bid

However, it seemed inevitable Causeway would reel him in and with Moore having a target trained on the Amo runner’s back, he moved to the front half a furlong from home and held on for a neck verdict.

It was a sixth win of the week for Moore, who also landed the day’s feature aboard O’Brien’s Precise and was taking his Royal Ascot tally to 98, just two away now from his own century just a day after the master of Ballydoyle achieved that landmark thanks to Scandinavia in the Gold Cup.

O’Brien said: “We always felt he was going to do enough, we are delighted, delighted for everybody including those who are not here.

“I think we’ll step him in trip, we’ll have to see what Ryan says, but I wouldn’t be too surprised (if we did). He has so much class.

“We stepped him up from a mile, to a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half. He’s very lazy, it’s hard to know what’s in there. Ryan said that he was toying with him and when he gets there he’s lazy.”

Johnston Filled With Pride After Near Miss

Of the runner-up Ancient Egypt, Johnston said: “First and foremost I feel great pride in the horse. We knew it was a big ask to turn around so quickly after the Derby, particularly given the fact that race was run in such testing conditions.

“I’ll be honest, for the first week I was trying to think, how do I tell Kia I don’t want to run here? Thankfully the signs in the past few days have been that we should be here.

“I’m so proud of the horse, I’m gutted for the horse and for Kia, he puts so much into this game, he wants one here and we came very close.

“David (Egan) said he did everything right. I was a little bit worried between the four and the three (furlong pole) before they turned in, I thought he came off it (the bridle) a bit and I was concerned at that point whether he wasn’t really going to run his true race, but then you start looking at everyone else.

“There was always going to be one that came and loomed, you kind of knew it, the way the week’s gone, there was going to be an O’Brien there to test our mettle.

“I thought he was going to fight him off briefly, and he gave everything he could. I am hugely proud of the horse and he proved he belongs at this sort of level and there’s a huge amount to be excited about for the rest of this year and next year.”