Opportunity knocks three times at Royal Ascot

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The William Haggas-trained Opportunity brought up a hat-trick of wins for Wathnan Racing at Royal Ascot in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes, denying Warrant Holder, who is owned by King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Having been off the track 11 months since last year’s meeting, Opportunity returned triumphant to win a competitive handicap at Carlisle last month and then went on to become the  second winner of the week for jockey James McDonald, who also rode Map Of Stars to victory in the Listed Wolferton Stakes on Tuesday.

“That was a very thrilling race to watch,” said Wathnan Racing’s Richard Brown. “We were very worried about the draw – it is difficult from stall one. James had to be patient there. A gap opened, it stayed open up the inside, we were lucky about that, and Opportunity finished very strongly.

“We have always had a high opinion of this horse. He was a horse that William always held in very high regard. We thought he was a Stakes-calibre horse and, hopefully, he has shown today that he is. We do not hide how important this meeting is for us, so it is great to get the third one on the board. We are absolutely delighted.”

McDonald added, “I didn’t know about the negatives of stall one – it’s a great barrier for us in Australia and anywhere around the world, really.  I watched all the replays of this horse, and thought if I could get him relaxed, he should do the rest provided I get some clear air. The race panned out beautifully for me. I was lucky to be on a willing participant who did everything I asked.

“This horse was trained to the minute. Even William said, ‘this is one of our best runners during the week’, which just shows how good he was. I was speaking to a few of the guys, and they said, ‘if you do get the luck, he should be about winning’, so that gave me a huge amount of confidence.”