Royal Ascot: Al Kazeem wins Prince of Wales’s Stakes

Al Kazeem caught pacesetter Mukhadram in the final strides to win his second consecutive Group 1 race, and third straight stakes, in Wednesday’s $775,000 Prince of Wales’s Stakes on the second day of the Royal Ascot meeting.

The victory led trainer Roger Charlton to state that Al Kazeem has the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Oct. 6 as an autumn goal.

Ridden by James Doyle, Al Kazeem (11-4) won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes by a neck over Mukhadram, a 14-1 shot. The Fugue, third in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita last November, finished third in her first start of 2013. Camelot, winner of the English Derby in 2012, finished fourth as the 5-2 favorite, never threatening the winner.

Al Kazeem was in fourth with a half-mile remaining and ran down Mukhadram, who led by three lengths in the stretch.

“He is a very tough, very genuine horse,” Charlton said of the winner. “I thought for an awful minute that we weren’t going to get there, but James seemed quite confident, so how do I know anything? I thought James gave him a great ride.”

Al Kazeem was the first of three consecutive wins for Doyle. He later won the 28-runner Royal Hunt Cup on Belgian Bill (33-1) and the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes on Rizeena (6-1).

Rizeena finished two lengths ahead of the American-based Sweet Emma Rose, a 16-1 shot trained by Wesley Ward and ridden by Joel Rosario.