Palace Pier maintained his unbeaten record when coming out on top in a pulsating finish to Saturday’s St James’s Palace Stakes (1 mile).
Palace Pier, Pinatubo and Wichita were locked in battle inside the final furlong and it was Palace Pier under Frankie Dettori who found most, lengthening well to score by a length from Pinatubo, with Wichita another head away in third.
Trained by John Gosden for owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the three-year-old son of Kingman has won all four of his starts.
“The race panned out well,” Gosden said. “Frankie said he wanted to ride Palace Pier a little cold. He settled him off the pace. He knew there would be a searching pace and I think Ryan Moore was happy with how the race turned out on Wichita.
“It got a little rough and Frankie avoided all of that. He swept round the outside and I think that he demonstrated superior stamina, which he also showed at Newcastle, when he was really strong in the last furlong.
“It is no fluke. He is a really talented horse and he will go for the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville, which his father Kingman won.”
Trainer Charlie Appleby was satisfied with the run from Pinatubo.
“I am disappointed to get beaten again, but we saw the Pinatubo we saw last year, for sure. From the three to the two there I thought, it’s just a matter of pressing the button again,” Appleby said. “Will (Buick) just said that on that ground, in the last 100 yards the tank was emptying out, but he is so courageous, he has held on for second still.
“He is still a class animal – we are not going to write him off just yet.
“When he walks in you can see that he has given it everything. When he turned into today, I thought we were back in the days of old. It is sticky and testing out there – it’s not bad ground, just a bit sticky.”