Goldikova strikes with Group One race win number nine at Royal Ascot

There comes a moment in the career of any great racehorse when the setting of new targets seems a graceless exercise, and it is a point that Goldikova has probably reached after her victory in the Queen Anne Stakes here yesterday. It was her first success at Ascot, and with nine Group One races now etched on her record, her status as the finest racemare of the past 20 years is now surely secure. One unique achievement is still open to Goldikova, however. No horse has ever been a three-time champion at the Breeders' Cup meeting in America, and Freddy Head's mare is now 7-4 to become the first by taking the Mile race for the third year running when the Cup is staged at Churchill Downs in November. Even Miesque – twice a winner of the same race, with Head in her saddle – could not manage that. Goldikova had only a neck in hand of the fast-finishing Paco Boy in yesterday's race, with Dream Eater, a 50-1 chance, another 3¼ lengths away in third. Yet while some may complain that Paco Boy's run underRichard Hughes started too late, Goldikova's had, by contrast, started a few strides earlier than Olivier Peslier would have liked, as she was simply going too well a quarter of a mile out to be restrained by her jockey any longer. Despite the narrow margin, Goldikova still looked very much like the best horse in the race, and Peslier said afterwards that he had "kept a little bit of power for the final furlong". He added: "It is a dream to win nine Group One races, she has won in Newmarket, America, France and now Ascot; she has won everywhere in the world in all the best races." The remainder of Goldikova's programme in what seems likely to be her final season on the track will be designed to peak in November, but there are other good races to be won on the way to Kentucky, and it will be a surprise if she does not surpass Miesque's total of 10 career Group One wins. "I don't think it's fair to say if she is better than Miesque," Head said, "but she is tougher than her. Miesque was a brilliant two-year-old and three-year-old but Goldikova was a longer time in getting going, but she has kept going for longer. You wouldn't be able to come too soon on Miesque like you can with this mare. "She is very special and it's rare that you can ride a horse of that calibre in so many different ways. You can come early with her like today or you can wait like she did in America. She keeps on fighting and finding something and was not even blowing five minutes after the race. "This is one of the greatest moments of my life, winning at Royal Ascot and especially with a mare like this one. I thought she was in the best form she has ever been going into today's race and she showed it there. "I expect she will go to Deauville [in August] now for the same two races [the Prix Rothschild and the Prix Jacques le Marois] that she won last year." David Pipe, whose father Martin took the marathon Ascot Stakes four times, recorded his first win at the meeting in the same race as Junior made all the running under Seb Sanders. Junior is a quirky horse, whose foibles have made him enemies among punters in the past, but he was trading at even money with six furlongs to run and never seemed likely to drop his gallop. "He's not straightforward, but what horse is?" Pipe said. "The lads have worked hard with him at home and the tactics worked well for him today. The blinkers have helped as did Seb's ride. I told him to try to win the race out in the country, and that's exactly what he did." The last race of the day, the Windsor Castle Stakes, was expected to be a reprise of last year's event according to the betting, with the American trainer Wesley Ward's Metropolitan Man a strong favourite. He showed little of the blistering pace that gave Ward the first ever American-trained winner at Royal Ascot 12 months ago, however, and faded tamely behind Marine Commando. The winner was named by his owner, Mike Wynne, after his son, also Mike, who is a sniper currently serving in Afghanistan. The crowd at Ascot yesterday was 39,561, likely to be the smallest of the week despite the siting of three Group One events at the top of the card. It was, however, a slight increase on the 2009 figure of 38,707.