Excellent Queen Elizabeth II Stakes second for Ribchester

Ribchester found only top filly Minding half a length too strong in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes over Ascot’s straight mile on British Champions Day, Saturday, October 15.

The three-year-old Iffraaj colt, trained by Richard Fahey, raced freely behind his pacemaker Barchan (Roger Varian/James Doyle) and Minding on the far side of the course as the field split into two groups early on.

Ribchester moved up to pass Minding with three furlongs to race and ran on strongly for William Buick to take the overall lead from Barchan approaching the two-furlong marker.

Minding laid down a powerful challenge to hit the front soon afterwards and readily quickened away from her rivals but Ribchester rallied most gamely inside the final furlong, with the winner prevailing by a rapidly diminishing margin in 1m 38.53s on good ground.

Richard Fahey commented: "Ribchester wasn’t unlucky but he maybe just over-raced a little bit in the early stages of the race.

"As I always say, he is a horse with a very high cruising speed and they couldn’t go quick enough for him early on.

"We are really happy with the run. He came back at Minding at the end of the race, but I am a huge admirer of the winner - she is a wonderful filly and we can be proud of how our horse has performed.

"That was his last run of the season, he’s finished for now."