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YORK (England), June 17: Maids Causeway lost a shoe but still prevailed in a thrilling finish to land the Group One Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot at York on Friday. The equine equivalent of Cinderella got home by a short head in a fairytale finish for trainer Barry Hills and his son and jockey Michael Hills at 9/2 with Jimmy Fortune on the John Gosden-trained Karens Caper the unfortunate second.
Irish raider Mona Lisa was third three-and-a-half-lengths back at 25/1 while her more favoured stablemate the English 1000 Guineas winner Virginia Waters was a disappointing sixth.
Hills junior was overcome with emotion afterwards as he returned on foot to the weighing room.
“She’s a man in a woman’s body,” he said.
“She went lame just before the finish and lost her shoe just when I needed her to produce a final surge.
“Its like a footballer losing his boot. I was really pulling on her and she just produced that final surge we needed and she responded brilliantly,” added Hills, who had finished second on her behind Virginia Waters in the English 1000 Guineas.
Hills senior, somewhat hoarse, said she had not surprised him with her performance.
“She’s a very tough cookie,” said the veteran handler.
“She showed last season she was a battler and this year she has not disproved that as was seen today.
“She just really hung on and fought it out to the death.”
Fortune had better luck earlier when he and Gosden had won the Group Two King Edward VII Stakes with Plea Bargain while the Hills family had even more to smile about when Michael’s twin brother Richard won the Listed Wolferton Handicap on 25/1 shot Imperial Stride.
GIACOMO INJURED
LOS ANGELES (California): Giacomo, who won the Kentucky Derby as a 50-1 longshot, won’t race again in 2005 after suffering a bone chip in his left front ankle in last Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
X-rays taken upon Giacomo’s return to Hollywood Park revealed the injury to the colt. But trainer John Shirreffs was optimistic that the injury should not force Giacomo into retirement, and said he expects him to return as a four-year-old.
After becoming the second-biggest longshot to win the first jewel of US racing’s Triple Crown and earning a Derby-record 1,639,600 dollars in the process, Giacomo finished third two weeks later in the Preakness.
Afleet Alex won the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, but no horse has completed the elusive Triple Crown since 1978.—AFP
