(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Treve finishes a pale third in the prince of wales stakes
the fugue ridden by william buick leads the field on the way to victory in the prince of wales’s stakes at royal ascot on wednesday. — ap
treve lost her aura of invincibility at royal ascot on wednesday when she could finish only third behind the fugue in the prince of wales’s stakes.
last season’s queen of the racetrack was expected to regale the attending british monarch queen elizabeth ii with a virtuoso display but she looked a pale shadow of the filly which carried all before her in 2013.
this was treve’s second defeat in as many starts this season which she opened by failing to overhaul cirrus des aigles at longchamp last month. prior to that she had won all five of her career starts.
trained at chantilly france by criquette head-maarek for shaikh joaan bin hamad al thani treve now has a mountain to climb if she is to regain the lustre she showed in winning the prix de l’arc de triomphe in october.
she never looked likely to win here having been restrained towards the rear by frankie dettori through the early stages. she made some headway as the field led by mukhadram turned for home but her progress thereafter was laboured.
the fugue by contrast travelled with greater zest under william buick as she loomed up to magician in the home straight. she picked off the leader before accelerating away to win by 1â¾ lengths with treve a further 1 length adrift in third place.
ground conditions at ascot were faster than treve had previously encountered. this was manifest in the fugue’s winning time which at 2 min 01.90 secs slashed 0.62 seconds of the previous track record set by cirrus des aigles three years ago.
dettori later maintained he was not happy with treve as he took her down to the start.
“she was (galloping) short and was never in her comfort zone” the jockey said.
“maybe it was the (fast) ground maybe she tweaked something” dettori continued.
“i tried to follow the fugue all the way but i could never keep up with her. she will have to be checked over because she didn’t feel great.”
victory was overdue reward for the fugue who is trained for the music composer andrew lloyd-webber by john gosden in newmarket england. her career has been blighted by a series of near-misses.
“we have been through a lot together over the years” buick said “so to win here is very special. she was always travelling well for me.”
lloyd-webber’s wife madeleine was overcome by the fugue’s triumph. “it is just so satisfying” she said.
“she has been so unlucky in so many races around the world. something always seems to go wrong but everything went right today. to beat the best horse in europe especially at royal ascot is a wonderful feeling.”
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