By Tom Frary
Under direct threat from Joseph for the Royal Ascot trainers' title following the preceding Sandringham, O'Brien Sr answered in the only way he knows how by saddling another Royal Ascot winner in Causeway (Wootton Bassett).
Heavily-backed for Friday's G2 King Edward VII Stakes despite tackling a mile and a half for the first time, the colt who had followed the “Paddington route” of the Madrid and Tetrarch before diverting off it to the Gallinule was able to win another battle and stretch his unbeaten sequence this term.
This time it was Amo's Derby also-ran Ancient Egypt (Frankel) who put it up to the relative of Magical, Rhododendron and Auguste Rodin and the duel up the home straight was only a slightly lower-key version of Thursday's Gold Cup epic. As his namesake used to do in the old days, the even-money favourite refused to be denied and got there by a neck, with Charlie Johnston's flagbearer in turn 10 lengths clear of the highly-regarded Clarehaven runner Water To Wine (Kingman).
Aidan is now 6-5 on his son and on 102 in total, with the reset button pressed and the double century the new target. Moore is remarkably on 98 and in sight of his own milestone, which could conceivably come by the end of play on Saturday. “He's so laid-back and lazy and barely does the minimum, so Ryan gave him a great ride,” the Ballydoyle handler said. “He's a tough, hardy horse and we always thought he would stay any trip. He's one of those where you don't know what's in there and has class.”
Moore added, “He was just doing what he hard to do, I was just keeping him going to keep him interested. Every time I asked him, he just kept finding and has just done enough. There's more in the tank I hope.”
Charlie Johnston was taking plenty of positives from the run of Ancient Egypt, who was backing up only 13 days after the Blue Riband. “I guess first and foremost I feel great pride in the horse. We knew it was a big ask to turn around so quickly after the Derby, particularly given the fact that race was run in such testing conditions,” he said. “I'll be honest, for the first week I was trying to think how do I tell Kia I don't want to run here, but thankfully the signs in the past few days have been that we should be here.”
“David [Egan] said he did everything right,” he added. “He gave everything he could and he proved he belongs at this sort of level and there's a huge amount to be excited about for the rest of this year and next year.”
John Gosden said of Water To Wine, who over-raced on the downhill from the start, “The ground was a bit quick. He's a big unit, 17 hands high, found the ground a little bit lively for him and it's getting quicker and quicker as the meeting goes on. He's still learning. He's obviously run in a maiden and a novice, he'd be a lovely horse in the making, I liked the way he got organised finally in the straight and ran on to be third.”
“William said he still feels incredibly mentally immature,” he added. “He's still a work in progress–I look forward to seeing him on good ground, even in autumn good-to-soft, that kind of thing, I think we'll see the best of him then.”
It's Aidan O'Brien's world! Causeway battles hard to win the King Edward VII Stakes under the Ryan Moore drive! #RoyalAscot pic.twitter.com/B6Ec3Rw6Kw
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 19, 2026
Pedigree Notes
Causeway's dam Heaven Of Heavens (Galileo) is a full-sister to the operation's aforementioned multiple Group 1-winning stars Magical and Rhododendron, with the latter going on to produce another of Coolmore's greats in Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact) while Magical's daughter Ballet Slippers (Dubawi) was third in the Fillies' Mile.
Also responsible for Wootton Bassett's Irish Oaks third Island Hopping, the dam is a granddaughter of the sprinting supremo Cassandra Go (Indian Ridge) who produced the Irish 1,000 Guineas, Sun Chariot and Nassau heroine Halfway To Heaven (Pivotal) and is the second dam of Galileo's Photo Call and the fellow top-level scorer Victoria Road (Saxon Warrior). Heaven Of Heavens' yearling colt is by Deep Impact's son Contrail.
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