Roaring Lion surges in Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

Roaring Lion overcame a soft turf course apparently not to his liking to win his fourth consecutive Group 1 race in Saturday’s $1,503,125 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at a mile at Ascot Racecourse in England.

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes may have been Roaring Lion’s final start in Europe. Trainer John Gosden suggested after the race that Roaring Lion will go to stud in 2019.

“He probably goes to stud now and what a class horse he is,” Gosden said. “He has got better and stronger through the year, and has now won a top mile race on ground he probably loathed.”

Owner Sheikh Fahad Al Thani of Qatar said Roaring Lion could start in a Breeders’ Cup race at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, or in a Group 1 race in Hong Kong in December.

Roaring Lion was one of three group stakes wins for Gosden on Saturday’s six-race Ascot program. He won the Group 2 Long Distance Cup with Stradivarius, and the Group 1 Champion Stakes with Cracksman.

Roaring Lion was ridden by Oisin Murphy, who kept the 3-year-old colt in the middle of the field of 13 for the first half-mile. Roaring Lion was ridden into contention with a quarter-mile remaining and took the lead in the final sixteenth, winning by a head over 33-1 I Can Fly.

“He has proven his class and his guts to get there, but I think he was hating every second of running on that ground,” Gosden said. “You could see from his action and the way he was carrying himself. I would not work him on that ground.”

Century Dream, a 25-1 outsider, finished third. Recoletos, the winner of the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp last month, finished fifth, beaten 1 3/4 lengths.

Roaring Lion’s three previous Group 1 wins were at 1 1/4 miles against older horses – the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park in July, the Juddmonte International at York in August, and the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September. Those races were run on good-to-firm turf.

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes was Roaring Lion’s first start at a mile since a fifth in the Group 1 English 2000 Guineas in May. A month later, Roaring Lion was third in the Group 1 English Derby at 1 1/2 miles at Epsom.

A Kentucky-bred colt by Kitten’s Joy, Roaring Lion has won 8 of 12 starts. Roaring Lion was a 2-1 chance with British bookmakers, but paid only $3.40 on an American tote system.