Charyn emerged decisive winner of the Queen Anne Stakes, the opening event of Royal Ascot 2024.
Trained by Roger Varian and ridden by Silvestre de Sousa, the four-year-old has progressed at knots this season and did better than last time at Lockinge at Newbury to establish himself as 100-30 favorite.
The race was a somewhat strange spectacle as two of the French raiders, Big Rock and Facteur Cheval, ran alone on the other side, while the rest of the field followed Robert Havlin on the Lockinge winner, Audience.
De Sousa was not as far behind Audience as he had been at Newbury and appeared to hold all the aces with two furlongs to go when he kicked off.
Hayley Turner and Docklands led an admirable chase to claim a clear second, beaten two and a quarter lengths, while Maljoom raced for third, as Charyn took the first Group 1 victory of her career.
Watch every race from Royal Ascot live on Sky Sports Racing from June 18-22.
