The well supported 8/1 shot Persuasive provided trainer John Gosden with a second victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Sponsored by QIPCO).

 

The four-year-old daughter of Dark Angel relished underfoot conditions and kept on tenaciously to land the Group One event by a length under Frankie Dettori from the 2/1 favourite Ribchester.

 

Aidan O'Brien's Churchill (9/2) was a half-length behind in third under Ryan Moore.

 

Gosden confirmed that the Cheveley Park Stud-owned filly would now be retired and he paid tribute to Persuasive, commenting: "She is very talented and has had no luck in Group Ones before today. 

 

"She will now go to the breeding shed so it's nice to go out on a high.

 

"She deserves it and is a very nice filly. I think she would have been unlucky if she had not have won because she was about to get boxed in so Frankie had to take her back, check his run and switch.

 

"She just adores this autumn ground and I have had to wait a long time. 

 

"The owners have been incredibly patient to wait a long time to have her right. She's got her ground today and just flies through it.

 

"It's important for the stud to have a Group One winning filly. I thought she was going to run a big race and she adores this track.

 

"I never worry taking on the boys in a race in the autumn with a filly as they go through hell in the spring and summer hormonally and they come to late summer/autumn and everything is settled so they can focus on racing."

 

Gosden also saddled fourth-placed Nathra (50/1) and he added: "Nathra has run a blinder and is off to the breeding shed."

It was Frankie Dettori's sixth win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes since he broke his Group One duck in the race in 1990 aboard Markofdistinction.

 

Dettori said: "Persuasive travelled so good - I could not believe it. The ground is key for her. Barry [her groom] knows the filly very well and told me to wait as long as I dared. She showed an explosive turn of foot.

 

"I thought the race was going to be very tough, but she put it to bed very quickly. She came really good two furlongs out. I followed Churchill and I saw his distress signal, and I just needed some clean air. Once Ribchester shifted across to the right there was a gap for me, so I took her right and she took off. 

 

"In fairness she has been knocking on the door in Group Ones for a long time now and she's going to stud now with a Group One tag on her name, and she deserves it. She has been a model of consistency and I'm delighted.

 

"To be honest, looking at the line up I thought God, she'll have to run well - there were Group One winners all over the place. But the key thing was that she had got the ground. The QEII is a special race for me. If you go back to 1990, Markofdistinction, it was my first Group One win, so it brings back some good memories."

 

Persuasive is owned by Mr and Mrs Thompson's Cheveley Park Stud. 

 

The stud's managing director Chris Richardson said: "We are actually a little overwhelmed, it's fantastic. 

 

"She has not run many times this year, but she has been getting better and better and ground is paramount. That's why we came here - for ground is like it was today. 

 

"When  I saw Hydrangea win over a mile and a half earlier today, and we'd finished third behind her at Leopardstown, I thought we had a chance of a place, but I have to admit I didn't think that we'd win."

 

Although the stud produces many home-breds each year, Persuasive was bought by Richardson for the stud.

 

"Persuasive came from the Goffs Orby Sale as a yearling," he explained. "She is a fabulous prospect now for the paddocks, especially as she is by Dark Angel, a sire who can do no wrong at the moment." 

 

Of the future for the filly, Richardson said: "The plan at the moment is to retire her, but things may change after today, we'll discuss it with Mr and Mrs Thompson."

 

Ribchester
© Racehorse Photos

The 2/1 favourite Ribchester was beaten a length by the John Gosden-trained filly Persuasive.

 

"Déjà vu - he's beaten again," said trainer Richard Fahey. "It's difficult to blame the ground as he's a horse who's won on soft ground, but he's such a good moving horse and William [Buick] feels there that he's come to win and win well but he just got beaten in the dead ground there. He just doesn't put it to bed. The winner coped with the conditions better. That's twice he's been beaten in desperate conditions. But we're happy enough. Well, not really, but I have to say that!"

 

On discussions about whether Godolphin's four-year-old son of Iffraaj would head to the Breeders' Cup next, Fahey said: "I can't even think about that now, I'd need to speak to the team. His best run for me was at Royal Ascot when the ground was quick and he broke the track record. If he hadn't had won the two-year-old race at Newbury, the Mill Reef, on slow ground I'd always have been worried about the ground, but he's come back as bright as a button. So I'm frustrated, rather than disappointed."

 

Jockey William Buick added: "His best performance was here in the Queen Anne on fast ground and the filly who likes the ground [Persuasive] quickened past me and ran well. But look, he's ran well and he's held his form since March. I think yes, he would have turned the tables on quicker ground - he's a much better horse on quicker ground."

 

Churchill, the undisputed champion of the spring, having annexed both the English and Irish 2000 Guineas, was on a bit of a comeback mission having tarnished his early gleaming reputation with subsequent defeats at Royal Ascot (fourth, 8f), York (second, 10f) and Leopardstown (seventh, 10f).

 

Brought back to a mile, he was sent off a 9/2 chance, and travelled early on, but  with every chance in the final throws of the G1 mile contest but he could only manage a one-and-half length third to winner Persuasive (8/1).

 

The Galileo colt's trainer, Aidan O'Brien said: "He ran very well. He has handled all types of ground, this wasn't his ideal but he ran a very good race."

 

Ryan Moore, partner of the three-year-old added; "He ran a very good race. We were crossed by the second and that cost us a lot of momentum.

 

"When you get stopped in that ground you can't get going again."