Estimate 22-6-12

Queen lands Queen's Vase with Estimate

Report: Royal Ascot, Friday

Queen's Vase (Group 3) 2m, 3yo

THE Queen celebrated a winner at Royal Ascot on Friday when Estimate won the Queen's Vase under Ryan Moore.

The daughter of Monsun, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, quickened up well to give her owner her first winner at the meeting since Free Agent landed the Chesham in 2008.

Stoute was pleased to train a winner for the Queen in this landmark Jubilee year. He said: "I'm delighted for her. She contributes so much to racing.

"This filly is from an Aga Khan family with a Gold Cup winner in it, and I thought when she won at Salisbury that she could be a Vase filly."

Also on Friday

Wolferton Handicap (Listed) 1m2f, 4yo+

Trainer John Gosden and jockey William Buick's brilliant Friday at Royal Ascot continued when the progressive Gatewood completed a 142-1 treble for the pair.

They landed the Albany and Coronation Stakes with Newfangled and Fallen For You and continued their great run with Gatewood, who was also completing a hat-trick following wins at York and Epsom.

Buckingham Palace Stakes (Handicap)

While Gosden was celebrating his 31st Royal Ascot winner, Roger Varian bagged his first when Eton Forever charged home in the Britannia.

My Betting Account

THINK Flat racing and most think of Royal Ascot. The hats - running the gamut from stunning to misguided - the pageantry, the Queen in her carriage, the tops 'n' tails, the champagne on lush green lawns and, not forgetting, the incredible racing come together to form one of Britain's most iconic sporting events.

Over five days in mid-June the nation's great and good descend upon the royal racetrack for an occasion rich in every sense - in heritage, in sporting merit,and in the vast array of wealth represented by the crowds of dukes, earls and oligarchs strutting before the grandstand.

For mere mortals Royal Ascot is a chance to watch and wonder at the elaborate outfits donned at the Berkshire racecourse and watch in wonder as the cream of British and Irish Flat talent square off against each other and - increasingly - the steady stream of raiders from Australia, America and other corners of the globe.

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