By Tom Frary
Even without Albert Einstein, Ballydoyle were able to come up with one to completely dominate another seemingly competitive renewal of Royal Ascot's G2 Coventry Stakes on Tuesday. The colt in question was Starspangledbanner's Gstaad, a half-brother to Vandeek who had beaten the yard's much-vaunted filly True Love on debut at Navan last month and generated enough support here to start as the 7-2 favourite.
Always travelling strongly up the centre, the bay who at 450,000gns was the top-priced colt at the 2023 Tattersalls December Foal Sale streaked away from two out to record an emphatic three-length success from the 80-1 shot Do Or Do Not (Space Blues), with another outsider Coppull (Bated Breath) a neck away in third at 66-1.
“He's a lovely horse and Ryan gave him a lovely, uncomplicated ride,” O'Brien said. “He's a scopey, genuine horse with a good stride who gets the trip very well. He goes with his head down and he has loads of speed, but he looks like he will get further than six. I was surprised, tacking up, how big he is.”
With such a dominant performance from the winner, the questioning inevitably turned towards the missing Albert Einstein who was due to come here as first string and whose spectre haunted the outcome given his lofty reputation.
“We always thought this was a top-tier horse alongside Albert, but your man was just so fast it was different,” the master of Ballydoyle said of the G3 Marble Hill Stakes winner, who sprained a joint in the build-up. “The first day he worked, he was probably the most different horse we have ever seen–he was so quick. He felt like something we hadn't had before–not one as big as he is and as quick as he is, so he is very exciting.”
While it is plausible that Albert Einstein would have been in front had he made the gig, that is not a given with Gstaad such an authoritative winner of a renewal that contained the usual bunch of exciting prospects. He was second-string on debut to No Nay Never's aforementioned Queen Mary hope True Love at Navan and on bare form had no entitlement to beat that filly who had got so close to Lady Iman on debut. Perfectly-paced and finishing almost exactly on par, Gstaad belongs among the best of the yard's Coventry winners until proven otherwise.
Space Blues made an impact with his first-crop runners Do Or Do Not and Power Blue, with the latter in fifth. The former's trainer Ed Walker said of the runner-up, “I was surprised, to be honest! The Coventry isn't a race I'd have thought I'll be winning any time soon. Fair play to [owner] Simon [Sadler]–he wanted to roll the dice. I was quite happy to go and find a £40,000 novice at Carlisle, but he ran an absolute blinder and I'm really proud of him. He is just so laid-back at home, so chilled, he probably doesn't show you a huge amount, but that's how you want them.”
Pedigree Notes
Gstaad is the last known foal out of Exceed And Excel's Mosa Mine, whose 2021 colt Vandeek flew the flag for Havana Grey at two when winning the G1 Prix Morny, G1 Middle Park Stakes and G2 Richmond Stakes. Her dam Baldemosa (Lead On Time) is a half-sister to Balbonella, winner of the Prix Robert Papin in its former guise as a Group 1 and later the dam of Danzig's G1 July Cup and G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest-winning champion sprinter Anabaa and of another notable sire in Key Of Luck, as well as the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Always Loyal (Zilzal) who is the second dam of Deep Impact's G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies-winning champion 2-year-old filly Shonan Adela.
Tuesday, Royal Ascot, Britain
COVENTRY STAKES-G2, £175,000, Ascot, 6-17, 2yo, 6fT, 1:13.43, g/f.
1–GSTAAD (GB), 129, c, 2, by Starspangledbanner (Aus)
1st Dam: Mosa Mine (GB), by Exceed And Excel (Aus)
2nd Dam: Baldemosa (Fr), by Lead On Time
3rd Dam: Bamieres (Fr), by Riverman
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN. (450,000gns Wlg '23
TADEWE). O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier & Michael
Tabor; B-Maywood Stud; T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore.
£99,243. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $146,596. *1/2 to Vandeek
(GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), G1SW-Fr, G1SW-Eng, $650,249.
Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Do Or Do Not (Ire), 129, c, 2, Space Blues (Ire)–Dettoria (GB),
by Declaration Of War. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK
TYPE. (65,000gns RNA Wlg '23 TADEWE; 75,000gns Ylg '24
TATOCT). O-TBT Racing; B-D G Iceton; T-Ed Walker. £37,625.
3–Coppull (GB), 129, c, 2, Bated Breath (GB)–Springwood Drive
(GB), by Mayson (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK
TYPE. O-David W Armstrong; B-Highfield Farm LLP; T-Clive Cox.
£18,830.
Margins: 3, NK, HF. Odds: 3.50, 80.00, 66.00.
Also Ran: Andab (Ire), Power Blue (Ire), Tadej (GB), Raakeb (Ire), Bourbon Blues (GB), Rock On Thunder (Ire), Warsaw (Ire), Postmodern (Ire), Shaatir (GB), American Gulf (GB), Super Soldier (Ire), Kolkata Knight (Ire), Gavoo (Ire), Military Code (GB), Ballistic Missile (Ire), Bone Marra (Ire), Underwriter (Fr). Scratched: Tricky Tel (GB).
Gstaad 🚀 pic.twitter.com/Zkh83GBA4F
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 17, 2025
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