Gold Cup set alight
Aidan O'Brien was a relieved man after Leading Light won the Group One Gold Cup over two and a half miles in a thrilling finish with The Queen's Estimate and fellow Irish challenger Missunited, the margins being a neck and a short-head at the line.
“Two and a half miles around Ascot really tests a horse's courage," he said. "It takes a very brave horse to win it – colt or filly. [...] The Queen was an absolute lady and we were sorry that her filly was second. A staying filly to be doing the work she was doing, she must be a very special filly.”
Estimate almost landed back-to-back victories in the Gold Cup for The Queen but found Leading Light just too strong in the final stages of the race, going down a neck to O'Brien's four-year-old.
Trainer Sir Michael Stoute was keen to pay tribute to both the five-year-old and his staff back in Newmarket.
"It was a great run and I'm very proud of her," said Stoute. "It's been a great team effort back at home to get her back on the track after so long but she's made it easy for us as she's a very brave filly."
The Queen's racing manager John Warren was also delighted:
"We really couldn't ask for more.
It was tremendous and The Queen got such pleasure out of it. She was so brave and to see her put in such
a tremendous effort like that was tremendous. Ryan said it was a
career best."