Banks Hill wins Coronation Stakes

Banks Hills (right) surges home at Royal Ascot

French raider Banks Hill steamed home in the final furlong to win the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Joint favourite, ridden by leading French jockey Olivier Peslier, was favoured by the initial slow pace and finished a length and a quarter ahead of Crystal Music, which also went off at 4-1.

Ameerat, the 1,000 Guineas winner, was never in contention, struggling with the fast ground.

Tempting Fate, piloted by Frankie Dettori, led the way for much of the race but had to settle for third place.

Crystal Music moved ahead two furlongs out, but lacked the acceleration of the Andre Fabre-trained Banks Hill.

Once Peslier, who is a three-time Arc de Triomphe winning rider, extricated his filly from the pack halfway down the straight there was no doubt who the winner was going to be.

"I knew she could win this race as I targetted her for it a month ago," Fabre said.

"I'm delighted to win it because the last time I won it was back in 1989 with Golden Opinion and it is a really difficult race to win."

Peslier said: "She just flew once I asked her the question.

"She was too green in the French Guineas and I knew she would grow from that experience and today she proved she could well be the best miler in the business this year."

Full result 1545 BST
1 Banks Hill (O Peslier) 4-1 Jt Fav
2 Crystal Music (R Hughes) 4-1 Jt Fav
3 Tempting Fate (L Dettori) 12-1
13 ran
Also: 25-1 Lethals Lady 4th
Non Runner: 2