York Glory, Opinion and Chiberta King round out Royal Ascot 2013 winners

York Glory, Opinion and Chiberta King round out Royal Ascot

2013 winners

Trainer Kevin Ryan will step York Glory up to the top level after fulfilling

one of his career ambitions by capturing Saturday's

Wokingham Handicap

at Royal Ascot.

"The Wokingham is a race I've always wanted to win, and I wanted this fellow

to win a good handicap before going up to the next level," Ryan said. "He's

always been a group horse running in handicaps and he could be even better over

five furlongs -- we'll look at the Nunthorpe and Prix de l'Abbaye.

"There was always going to be a big day in York Glory and I

have been saying that for long enough. I hope a good pal of mine at home,

Denzel, has had a few quid on him because he has followed the horse all along

and said last week he would win the Wokingham.

"The horse has always been very talented and Jamie

(Spencer) texted me 10 days ago asking me if he could ride him. Jamie has great

faith in the horse and so does Neil Callan."

York Glory was bought for $57,000 as a yearling at

Keeneland by Bahrain owners Salman Rashed and Mohamed Khalifa.

"It's great because the owners are here and it's actually the first time they

have ever seen the horse," Ryan added. "They have come over from Bahrain to watch him."

"It's wonderful," Khalifa said. "We thank

Kevin Ryan and his team because they have done a brilliant job with this horse.

I have been looking forward to this race for some time now because I thought he

would win."

The members of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing were visibly

overjoyed after 8-1 shot Opinion landed the

Duke of Edinburgh Handicap

in the penultimate race at Royal

Ascot 2013.

The four-year-old took up the running a couple of furlongs

from home and although they had to fend off the challenge of Frankie Dettori

aboard 5-1 favorite Stencive, Sir Michael Stoute's colt fought hard to

register a gutsy victory.

Opinion had been the lead horse for the syndicate's

Derby hope Telescope earlier in the season but he had his day in the

limelight here and Highclere's managing director Harry Herbert has some high

hopes for his charge later in the season.

"We're thrilled to bits with that as having winners at

Royal Ascot is exactly what we're about," Herbert said. "It is so exciting to have a winner and it's the theatre of

dreams. This was the last shot for us and we have had some excitements and

disappointments throughout the week.

"Royal Ascot is best race meeting in the world and it is

where everybody wants to win a race. When you go to the yearling sales that is

where the seed germinates and every yearling we look at with John (Warren) he

will say to me, 'Can this win a Classic or at Royal Ascot?' We have been

incredibly lucky at this meeting and it is wonderful to have this success.

"He was trained for this race by Sir Michael after doing

the donkey work for Telescope earlier on this year. The Ebor (at York) is very much on the agenda now and we

hope he could be good enough for the Melbourne Cup later on in the year."

Jockey Ryan Moore was recording his third victory of the

Royal Meeting aboard Opinion and he declared himself "satisfied" with his

performance this week.

"The race worked out very well and we were able to get a

good spot," Moore stated. "I filled him up for a long time and he stays very well

-- you could

see that in the last furlong. The ground was fast on Guineas day at Newmarket and the

track runs away from you for quite a while but the stiffer track here has helped

him.

"I have to be satisfied with how the meeting has gone," he added.

The 2013 Royal Ascot meet wrapped up in the

Queen Alexandra Stakes but, following 8-1 shot Chiberta King's narrow head

victory in the race, trainer Andrew Balding is already eyeing a return trip to

Royal Ascot in 2014.

The seven-year-old is often seen over hurdles during the

National Hunt season but he landed the biggest race of his career to date

despite jockey Jimmy Fortune losing his reins in the final part of the race.

Balding indicated that Chiberta King would be heading back

hurdling this winter but was hopeful that he could come back here next year for

another crack at this race.

"We're delighted with that and it looked like Jimmy didn't

need his reins in the end!" Balding quipped.

"Jimmy is so strong in the saddle that I don't really think

it would have made a difference either way. He's given him a peach of a ride and

it's nice to sign off the week with a winner as it's been a tough few days.

"We might bring Chiberta King back again next year," Balding added. "I am so

thrilled with the horse and for the owners because they are a great bunch. He is seven now and we bought him when he was yearling but

he has been such a good servant and the lad, who looks after and rides him

everyday, has done a fantastic job."

Attendance for the five-day Royal Ascot meet was 279,452, a slight decline

from the 280,268 on hand last year.

"Attendances have been very pleasing over the week, with increases every day

apart from (Saturday) primarily because the Silver Ring capacity has been

reduced from 24,000 to 20,000 with comfort in mind," said Charles Barnett,

chief

executive of Ascot. "Even with the Silver Ring capped we have still broadly

matched last year's attendance."

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