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28.
Queen Provides The
Crowning Glory
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22/6/2003 |
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Trainer Paul Perry's greatest reward for his historic achievement with Choisir
at Royal Ascot in the past week was a personal meeting with Queen Elizabeth.
The Queen witnessed Choisir’s spectacular win in Saturday’s Golden Jubilee
Stakes and presented a magnificent trophy to Perry after the race.
The presentation was also special for the Queen as the race, formerly the Cork
and Orrery Stakes, was renamed last year to mark her 50-year golden jubilee as
monarch.
Perry described his week at Royal Ascot as “the thrill of a lifetime” and
clearly rated meeting the Queen as the crowning glory for a boy from a
traditional hard-working Newcastle racing family.
“As a boy growing up, anyone in racing knows Royal Ascot and what a
prestigious meeting it is, one of the best in the world,” Perry said in a
post-race media interview.
"Everyone wants to come here and to do it and to win twice is just
fantastic.
"I thought Tuesday was a thrill, but this is something special
“We met the Queen and won the race, it’s just been terrific.
“Talking to the Queen, now that was something really special.
“She loves horses and was so easy to talk to, she thought Choisir was the
quickest horse she’d ever seen.”
Choisir has left an indelible impression on UK racing with experts and the
public alike taken with his size and robust appearance.
“They’ve been really taken with him, the sheer strength and power.
They’re used seeing to a much finer type of horse,” Perry said.
Perry said that Tuesday’s win had improved the big colt.
“He went back to Newmarket on Tuesday and came back down this morning,” he
said.
“He just did a bit of easy work, poking around and he freshened up
beautifully. I think that run on Tuesday put a bit of an edge on him.”
Perry emphasised just how much the riding of Irish jockey John Murtagh had
played in the historic double.
“It was stunning. He sort of drew the bad alley and worked across, that was
Johnny’s plan
“Johnny jumped off and told me to leave Choisir in Britain because he is sure
nothing in Europe will beat him.
"I thought he might have a job to pull it off from that alley but he is a
serious sprinter now and we will have to think about staying on for the July Cup
at Newmarket.
"He’s supposed to go into quarantine. That’s probably it for him until
Hong Kong or we could have one more go at the July Cup.
“I think he is capable of anything, he’s a very smart colt.
“He should have the best record. He probably should have won five Group Ones,
the Golden Slipper and all that, but the week before the Slipper everything went
wrong.”
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