A day after providing the US’ first winner at Royal Ascot, trainer Wesley Ward and jockey John Velazquez were celebrating again on Wednesday after Jealous Again stormed to victory in the Queen Mary Stakes.
Bursting out of the stalls, the 13-2 shot had far too much speed for the opposition and finished five lengths ahead of Misheer.
“She ran brilliantly. I’m very proud of her, Johnny rode a great race and everything went just like we thought,” California-based handler Ward said. “In America we train for speed and the reason I came over here was I thought the others in the race are trained to go on for next year. I just thought I’d get a jump on the other trainers over here.”
“Your horses are bred to go longer and ours are bred for speed and it worked out,” he said.
The triumph came a day after the Windsor Castle Stakes saw 331-shot Strike The Tiger become the first US-trained horse to win at Royal Ascot, which hosted its first four-day meeting in 1768.
In the opening race on day two of Royal Ascot, Ouqba gave Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum back-to-back victories in the Jersey Stakes with a narrow verdict over Deposer.
France’s Vision D’Etat came from last to first to win the Prince of Wales’ Stakes by half a length.
After a powerful run from the rear a furlong out, the Eric Libaud-trained four-year-old claimed the lead inside the final furlong.
With Olivier Peslier on board, the 4-1 shot was pressed hard in the closing stages but held on to beat 6-4 favorite Tartan Bearer with fellow French raider Never On Sunday a head away in third.
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