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Sheikh Mohammed, centre, and Princess Haya, right, meet Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Ascot races.
Joviality, ridden by William Buick, in green, beats Chachamaidee at Berkshire.

Joy for Princess Haya as Joviality wins at Royal Ascot


ASCOT, England // Princess Haya of Jordan graced the Royal Ascot winners' enclosure once again when Joviality struck in the Windsor Forest Stakes.

Joviality's success in the Group 2 contest followed up Beachfire's victory in the Wolfreton Handicap last year.

Ridden by Dubai regular William Buick and trained by John Gosden, Joviality held on by a neck from Chachamaidee and Lay Time.

"John has done a great job of training her and she is such a lovely filly in the stable and is very friendly and sweet with everyone," the Princess said.

For Gosden, the victory went some way to making up for Tuesday, when The Nile suffered a fatal injury in the St James's Palace Stakes.

"We had a difficult day yesterday, but ours is a strange game and a game of vicissitudes," the trainer said. "Princess Haya is a top-class horsewoman and I suggested she should lead in the filly.

"She is a consummate rider who competed in the Olympics [Sydney 2000 in showjumping] and her husband, Sheikh Mohammed, has just won a 160-kilometre endurance race in Italy when none of us could race for 16 kilometres. It's only natural they should be interested in racehorses."

So You Think's recuperation from his failure to land the Dubai World Cup continued yesterday when Aidan O'Brien's Australian import accounted for Carlton House in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes.

"I am so sorry to the Australian people that I've made a muck up for so long," the Irish trainer said. "It took me a year and a half to learn how to train him properly."

sports@thenational.ae

twitter Follow us @SprtNationalUAE & Geoffrey Riddle @Louchepunter

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