SHAMARDAL took another significant step towards superstar status with a pulsating all-the-way win on day one of Royal Ascot at York in the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes.

Even a rather murky and cool afternoon couldn't take the shine off Shamardal's victory, neither the beaming smile from successful jockey Kerrin McEvoy's face, the Aussie-born rider entrusted with doing the steering after Frankie Dettori was cruelly ruled out of the entire meeting as a result of suspension.

Trained throughout 2004 at Middleham by Mark Johnston, when the colt established himself as Europe's leading two-year-old by scooping Newmarket's Dewhurst Stakes, Shamardal was moved late last year by owner, Sheikh Mohammed, to run under the Godolphin banner and stewardship of Saeed Bin Suroor.

Even with the triple Group 1 scorer, Attraction, under his wing, Johnston was as near as dam it convinced Shamardal was the best horse he'd ever trained. And it was an opinion vindicated by the son of Giant's Causeway, who in the space of the past four weeks has also added the French 2000 Guineas and Derby to his burgeoning portfolio of major prizes.

"He's a very tough horse just like his sire. We only decided to run him an hour before the race because the fast ground suits him," revealed Sheikh Mohammed, who had originally pencilled in the stable's Irish 2000 Guineas winner, Dubawi, for the one-mile showpiece.

In the event, the forecast rain failed to emerge for the latter, resulting the in a last-minute withdrawal of Dubawi.

The prospect of a mouthwatering clash between Motivator, the hugely impressive Epsom Derby winner, and Shamardal, in the next month's ten-furlong Coral Eclipse Stakes is now on the agenda, a head-to-head contest to potentially decide the 2005 middle-distance three-year-old champion.

According to the pre-race betting Rakti was expected to cakewalk the Queen Anne Stakes, but like so many times in previous campaigns he was up to his old tricks in the preliminaries.

Instead of parading before the packed stands, he veered right out of the paddock and petulantly threw his head about and yanked jockey Philip Robinson's arms out on the way to the starting gates.

Although Rakti didn't appear too headstrong in the race, he still didn't have anything like sufficient fuel in the tank to repel the challenge of the Aga Khan's Valixir.

The first horse to enter the winners' enclosure in the one-off unique fixture was Red Clubs, a third success in the Coventry Stakes for Barry Hills.

Red Clubs sealed affairs with an electrifying burst one furlong from the finish. "He's a very laid back individual. I'm very much looking forward to running him over seven furlongs in the either the National or Champagne Stakes," said Barry, who sent out his first winner at the Royal meeting no less than 34 years ago.

Despite the strength of the southern challenge, the next three places were all filled by representatives from our region, Howard Johnson's Pacific Pride grabbing second, with Kevin Ryan and Bryan Smart nabbing third and fourth respectively with Amadeus Wolf and Sir Xaar.

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