Royal Ascot: Docklands narrowly upsets Rosallion in Queen Anne

The 5-year-old horse Docklands spent the last part of 2024 out on the international circuit, racing in Australia and Hong Kong, but his first Group 1 win came back home in England when he pipped favored Rosallion in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes.

Docklands finished second in the 2024 Queen Anne and went one place better – if only by a couple inches – in the annual lid-lifter on the Royal Ascot meeting.

Rosallion, 9-5 favorite in the World Pool, made a powerful run from the rear of the field with about 400 meters of the straight-course mile remaining and at the furlong grounds looked like he’d roar home a worthy winner, but Docklands had other ideas.

Away slowly under jockey Mark Zahra – a rare participant in top-level European races – Docklands settled in last during the early stages, unperturbed by his awkward beginning, and started to progress through the 10-runner field about halfway through.

Zahra made his move on the far side of the course as Rosallion popped into serious contention on the stands’ side, but despite appearing to have all the momentum, Rosallion could not push past. No sooner had he nearly drawn even when Docklands had an immediate response, just enough to stave off the favorite and give trainer Harry Eustace his first Group 1 victory. And Zahra in the most important win of his career crossed the finish without his whip, dropped during the frantic final furlong.

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Cairo, a 59-1 shot, nabbed third, the first three home closing into a modest tempo. Notable Speed finished a troubled fourth, stuck behind a wall of horses with three furlongs remaining and eventually wandering down to the far side and finishing strongly but too late. Carl Spackler, trained by Chad Brown for eFive Racing Thoroughbreds before being sold to Australian interests in May, traveled strongly from a stalking position, and while he couldn’t quicken with the top finishers did hold fifth.

The milers in England this spring, Dancing Gemini and Lead Artist, made no mark finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Sardinian Warrior, who beat Docklands on April 30, was scratched.

Docklands ($28.50 in the World Pool) began his career in 2022 and won three of his first five starts, the last of those in a 29-horse handicap during the 2023 Royal Ascot meeting. But since that victory, Docklands had lost 11 races in a row, and while he ran decently in a pair of Australian races last fall, he was nowhere near winning.

Eustace, a former assistant to Christophe Clement in America and William Haggas in England, in 2021 took over the Park Lodge Stable in Newmarket when his father, trainer James Eustace, retired.

Docklands campaigns for O T I Racing and is a son of Massaat and the Mark of Esteem mare Icky Woo. He could return to Australia later this year, which would moot a trip to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, into which Docklands gained automatic fees-paid entry and travel expenses to California by winning the Queen Anne, which is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In Challenge Series.

And if Docklands still is racing as a 6-year-old, he’s sure to be back for the 2026 Queen Anne.

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