Solow wins ninth straight in Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

Solow won his ninth straight race and capped a perfect 2015 campaign Saturday at Ascot with a three-quarter-length win over Belardo in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Trainer Freddy Head, who sent Charm Spirit out to victory in 2014, won his second straight QE II, while Solow solidified his position as the best miler in Europe if not the world this year.

The highly regarded Gleneagles, however, could only finish sixth while starting for the first time since winning the St. James’s Palace Stakes on June 16. Gleneagles had since been scratched from three possible starts because of concerns over soft ground, but trainer Aidan O’Brien and Coolmore, waiting until about an hour before the race to announce the decision, elected to take their chance over a course rated good-to-soft.

Gleneagles, who had finished first in five straight Group 1s, showed nothing close to his best Saturday, though he remains on course for a start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic if his connections are satisfied with the way he comes out of the QE II.

Soft ground, firm ground, right-handed turns, left-handed turns, or no turns at all – as was the case in the straight-course QE II, nothing has stood between Solow and the winner’s circle in his last nine races. Gelded because Head and owners and breeders Gerard and Alain Wertheimer thought he was becoming too heavy for his own good, and turned back from long-distance races to shorter trips, Solow hit his stride last fall and has not let up since. He won the Dubai Turf by four lengths on March 28, beat the top-class Esoterique over one mile in the Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot, and always looked to be travelling well Saturday under Maxime Guyon.

Racing third behind Elm Park and a rank Kodi Bear as the field went along nearly single file, Solow was asked for run about a quarter-mile out, took the lead before the furlong grounds, and held clear a good late run from Belardo, who turned in a career-best performance to finish second. Huge longshot Gabrial finished third, as Territories (seventh) and Kodi Bear (eighth) joined Gleneagles in performing well below their best form.

Solow, a 5-year-old by Singspiel and out of the Highest Honor mare High Maintenance, won for the 12th time in 16 starts. He’ll now get a winter break, according to Head, and then target a repeat victory in the Dubai Turf in late March.