Wednesday 19 June 2019 14:58, UK
Frankie Dettori got off the mark for the week at Royal Ascot when teaming up with Mark Johnston to win the Queen Mary Stakes, courtesy of Raffle Prize.
The 18-1 winner narrowly denied Kimari, who was bidding to give American trainer Wesley Ward another juvenile winner at the meeting.It was nip and tuck inside the final furlong, but Dettori used all his experience to get up inside the final few strides and land his 61st Royal Ascot winner - going on to treat the crowd to a flying dismount.
In the colours of Sheikh Mohammed's son, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Dettori was greeted by his long-time former boss from the Godolphin days on his return.
Dettori told ITV Racing: "I don't normally like riding in the rain, but I don't mind it at Ascot!
"This filly has been running over six furlongs, so when I saw I was up against one of Wesley's, who had only been running over four and a half, I knew I'd outstay her.
"I could here the crowd shouting me on, but when it gets the close it's in the lap of the gods."
Johnston said: "People always ask me about my best chances at Ascot, but how can you know when there's so little form to go on in races like this?
"We thought she deserved to be here and thought she had a great chance.
"I heard Frankie referred to the other day as the greatest jockey with the exception of Lester Piggott. With no disrespect to Lester, is he (Frankie) not just the greatest jockey - he was fantastic there."
