Royal Ascot - Day Five

In the G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes in 2014, Slade Power showed he had speed to burn. Relive his victory here.

Speed is the name of the game on the final day of Royal Ascot, and Darley stallion Slade Power typified that theme when blistering away with the G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes in 2014.

The son of Dutch Art had announced his arrival on the sprinting scene two years earlier with a brace of Listed victories over six furlongs as a three-year-old.

He crept quietly through the ranks in a notoriously competitive division, landing the G3 Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh over five furlongs before finishing a good third in the G1 Darley July Cup.

Another G3 victory over six furlongs followed at the Curragh, before Slade Power earned another well-deserved G1 placing when runner-up in the Haydock Park Sprint Cup. Eddie Lynam’s charge rounded off his season in style when triumphing in the G2 British Champions Day Stakes over six furlongs at Ascot in October.That victory would prove an exciting sign of things to come the following season.

Slade Power made an eye-catching return at five, powering clear of a very useful yardstick in Maarek (winner of the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye the previous season) in the G3 Greenland Stakes. The scene was set for the return to Ascot.

By the time of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on the fifth and final day of the 2014 Royal meeting, Slade Power’s connections had already celebrated a G1 sprint victory with their Sole Power who triumphed in the King’s Stand Stakes on the opening day.

Slade Power lined up with 13 rivals, although the field soon split into two. Racing on the far side, Slade Power chased the leaders before joining in the fight two furlongs from home. A furlong out, he put any doubts to doubt, cruising clear to score by a length and a half from Due Diligence.

Slade Power surges clear in the G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot

Arguably even better was to come, three weeks after Ascot when Slade Power contested the G1 Darley July Cup, in the same week that it was announced that he had been purchased for stud duty by Darley.

In the event, the race played out in a similar fashion to his Ascot romp for Slade Power who cruised into the lead a furlong from home and triumphed by a length and a half over Tropics.

Crowned Champion sprinter, Slade Power was rated at his peak by Timeform as the best sprinter for more than a decade, and better than his sire Dutch Art, grandsire Medicean and great-grandsire Machiavellian.

During his first two seasons at stud, standing at Kildangan Stud in Ireland, Slade Power has covered impressive books of mares, including 147 who are out of Stakes winners or their dams, daughters or siblings. His first foals have been very well received by breeders and will be at the sales later this year.

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