By Tom Frary
Saturday's G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes lived up to all the billing, with Lazzat (Territories) denying the Japanese challenger Satono Reve (Lord Kanaloa) to provide Wathnan with a fifth Royal Ascot winner this week. Placed on the front end by James Doyle, the Jerome Reynier-trained G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner who was having only his second start over this six-furlong trip had too much power for that 2-1 favourite to prevail by half a length. There was a three-length gap back to Wathnan's other hope, Flora Of Bermuda (Dark Angel), in third. Unsurprisingly, it was a race-record time, shaving a tenth of a second off that of Blue Point's.
“That's capped an amazing week,” Richard Brown said. “What an amazing horse race, he's locked up with the Japanese horse there and they've gone a long way clear–it was an absolutely phenomenal race to watch and to be on the lucky side is just amazing.”
“Japanese horses are very hard to beat, they've got world-class breeding operations and Satono Reve looked a monster walking round here beforehand so that is a very, very brave performance. That's two brilliant rides from James Doyle from the front this afternoon. It's just very exciting and we're very privileged to be involved with a horse of that quality.”
LAZZAT WINS THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II JUBILEE STAKES! 🏆 #ROYALASCOT pic.twitter.com/QaQZ1vp3M8
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 21, 2025
Unstoppable in Europe in 2024, Lazzat garnered the G3 Prix Djebel and G3 Prix Paul de Moussac over seven before continuing that streak into the Prix Maurice de Gheest over half a furlong shorter in August. Prepared for the Golden Eagle from there, he tasted defeat for the first time at the hands of Lake Forest before running unplaced in the G1 Hong Kong Mile.
Proving that a mile was not his bag when fourth on heavy ground on his return in Saint-Cloud's Listed Prix Altipan, he was switched to this trip for Chantilly's Listed Prix Servanne and impressed in every way possible to point the way here. Displaced as favourite in the build-up as the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen winner Satono Reve proved all the rage, he was always comfortable at the head of affairs and able to pull it out inside the final furlong as that raider arrived alongside.
Reynier, who was in the news for the wrong reasons on Saturday morning due to his public damning of the ride Flavien Prat gave his Prince of Wales's contender Facteur Cheval, was celebrating his Royal Ascot breakthrough moment. “Lazzat won at the top level as a three-year-old in the Maurice de Gheest in Deauville but, after having been all the way to Australia and Hong Kong, I was a bit scared that it was going to be tough,” he said. “We have obviously been trying him over a mile to open his options, but he is a pure sprinter and we will stick to the sprinting distances over straight courses in the future.”
“The July Cup is coming a little quickly, so maybe we will defend his crown in the Maurice de Gheest. We also have the [Haydock] Sprint Cup and we can be back here in October, because he can handle any ground. If the ground is heavy, he can do it as well. He's a very good champion. Today everything went right, for once, and we are happy to have a first Royal Ascot winner, especially for Wathnan and Nurlan Bizakov as a breeder.”
James Doyle said, “We had all bases covered and Jerome was very confident. I could feel him coming all right, but you won't get a more genuine horse than Lazzat. He really pinned his ears back when he joined me and he was always going to see him off. I feel a bit guilty because we have only picked the horse up a couple of weeks ago and obviously I landed on him. I have to say a huge thank you to the whole team, a big thanks to everyone.”
Satono Reve's jockey Joao Moreira said, “We went into the race with a lot of confidence. The horse was well in himself but we bumped into a very good horse today. Halfway through, I thought I had him done, but he just had another kick and kept attacking the line. I was closing up again and my horse ran really well. We thought we had a really good crack but, unfortunately, we just bumped into a really good horse. I can't complain, he tried his very best.”
Richard Brown added of Flora Of Bermuda, “She has run an absolute blinder. She was a little free early, I need to watch it again, but she is so consistent. I would be hopeful that one of these might drop her way. She had some very good horses behind her. These two have obviously gone a long way clear, but she was best of the rest.”
Pedigree Notes
Lazzat is the first foal out of Lastochka (Australia), a granddaughter of the G1 1,000 Guineas heroine Sleepytime (Royal Academy) whose four black-type winners include Speightstown's Hathal whose career-high came in the G3 Superior Mile. This is the Charles Wacker family of Sleepytime's G1 Sussex Stakes-winning full-brother Ali-Royal and the four times Group 1-winning Taipan (Last Tycoon) and G1 Prix d'Ispahan-winning fellow sire Croco Rouge (Rainbow Quest). Lastochka's 2-year-old filly by Golden Horde is named Lamiya.
Saturday, Ascot, Britain
QUEEN ELIZABETH II JUBILEE STAKES-G1, £1,000,000, Ascot, 6-21, 4yo/up, 6fT, 1:11.30, g/f.
1–LAZZAT (FR), 131, g, 4, by Territories (Ire)
1st Dam: Lastochka (GB), by Australia (GB)
2nd Dam: Lashyn, by Mr. Greeley
3rd Dam: Sleepytime (Ire), by Royal Academy
(£2,250,000 RNA 3yo '24 GOFLON). O-Wathnan Racing WLL; B-Sumbe; T-Jerome Reynier; J-James Doyle. £567,100. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Fr, 11-8-1-0, $2,519,841. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Satono Reve (Jpn), 131, h, 6, Lord Kanaloa (Jpn)–Ciliege (Jpn), by Sakura Bakushin O (Jpn). (¥54,000,000 Wlg '19 JRHAYF). O-Hajime Satomi; B-Shirai Stud Farm; T-Noriyuki Hori. £215,000.
3–Flora Of Bermuda (Ire), 128, f, 4, Dark Angel (Ire)–Dubai Power (GB), by Cadeaux Genereux (GB). (€65,000 Wlg '21 GOFNO1; €52,500 Ylg '22 ARAUG; £340,000 2yo '23 GOUKB). O-Wathnan Racing; B-Francisco Bernal; T-Andrew Balding. £107,600.
Margins: HF, 3, 3/4. Odds: 4.50, 2.00, 12.00.
Also Ran: Nighteyes (Ire), Iberian (Ire), Jasour (GB), Inisherin (GB), Run To Freedom (GB), Great Generation (Ire), Storm Boy (Aus), Grand Grey (Ire), Elite Status (GB), Annaf (Ire), Topgear (Fr). Scratched: James's Delight (Ire), Sajir (Ire).
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