Accidental Agent, who never had won a group stakes race of any sort, won the Group 1, $874,000 Queen Anne Stakes to start the Royal Ascot meeting Tuesday in England. His trainer, Eve Johnson Houghton, won her first Royal Ascot race and first Group 1, as did jockey Charles Bishop. Johnson Houghton’s mother, Gaie Johnson Houghton, bred Accidental Agent, who was meant to be sold as a yearling but was bought back for lack of interest at auction. "I thought I was tilting at windmills,” said Eve Johnson Houghton. “I dreamt about finishing third and then watching it I said, 'Oh my god, we are going to place.’ ” Accidental Agent did better than place. He was 41-1 in North American betting, and his victory rated as an upset for sure, but the Queen Anne looked wide open this year, with the favorites – Rhododendron, Benbatl, and Recoletos – all relatively pedestrian by top-level standards. Indeed, none of the trio factored in the outcome as 22-1 shot Lord Glitters surged late to nab second over Lightning Spear and Century Dream. Yoshida, the Bill Mott-trained American raider, finished a respectable fifth after looking like he could win a quarter-mile from the finish of the straight-course mile. The Queen Anne is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” race linked to the BC Mile, and Accidental Agent earned automatic entry into that race along with travel expenses to Churchill Downs, site of the 2018 Breeders’ Cup. But because neither Accidental Agent nor his sire, Delegator, are Breeders’ Cup-nominated, it would cost $100,000 to make Accidental Agent eligible to the BC Mile before July 15 and $200,000 after that date. Accidental Agent and Lord Glitters had finished one-two in a rich handicap race last October at Ascot, but no one would have been forecasting a reprisal of that outcome in the prestigious Queen Anne. Deauville went out to the lead and appeared to set a moderate to slow pace over good to firm ground, but the top two came from the tail of the field. Accidental Agent was a bit slow to settle under Bishop, though Lord Glitters pulled harder for longer, and while Accidental Agent found clear passage between horses down the center of the course, Lord Glitters had to swing to the far-side rail around Yoshida to make his bid. Nevertheless, the best horse appeared to win the Queen Anne – even if that horse was difficult to find going into the race. Accidental Agent, a 4-year-old by Delegator out of Roodle, by Xaar, won for the fifth time in 14 starts. He had only made his group stakes debut May 19 in the J.T. Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, finishing sixth after a slow start, and against the odds the second time was a charm. Lord Glitters, a 5-year-old, was racing in a group race for the first time. He beat Accidental Agent last fall at Ascot and has made steady, strong progress since joining the stable of trainer David O’Meara last summer. O’Meara has found plenty of success shipping Mondialiste and Suedois (14th in the Queen Anne) to North America and considering how well Lord Glitters ran on fast ground Tuesday, it won’t be a surprise to see him show up on this side of the Atlantic later this year. Third-place Lightning Spear, who looked like he might be the winner a furlong out, also merits mention. He finished third in the 2016 Queen Anne, won by Tepin, and turned in another creditable performance Tuesday after finishing ninth in last year’s race.