Tactical Shoots Clear Late in Windsor Castle

ASCOT, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND – Her Majesty The Queen homebred Tactical skimmed the inner rail in the later stages before shooting clear late to win Wednesday’s Windsor Castle Stakes on Day 2 of the 2020 Royal Ascot Meet.

Made the 3/1 stateside favorite under James Doyle in the 18-horse field of 2-year-olds, Tactical broke well and sat midfield early. Muker set the early pace, but he was pressured from both sides as the group remained tightly-bunched through the halfway point.

Tactical began making headway 2 furlongs out while racing close to the empty grandstand, but while much of the field began to drop off, Muker continued to run strongly on the front end. Inside the final furlong marker, Tactical surged to the lead and drew off to win by 1 1/4 lengths.

The Andrew Balding trainee completed the 5-furlong good turf sprint in a final time of 1:00.04.

“I was quite confident, to be honest,” said Doyle, who also won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) earlier on the card. “It was a straightforward race. I was a bit concerned about the draw and could foresee a few traffic problems if he didn’t begin quickly, but testament to Tactical, he took it all in his stride. He jumped the gates very quick.”

Yazaman usurped a game Muker in the last jump by a short head for second, while 2 lengths behind them, Get It edged Mighty Gurkha for fifth. Victory Heights, Chief Little Hawk, Sheriff Bianco, Sunshine City, Fools Rush In, Hyde Park Barracks, Selected, Fast Start, Stay Smart, Tantastic, Astimegoesby, Tenth Century, and Honeydew completed the order of finish.

Macho Pride and Steadman were non-runners.

An amazing moment on day two of Royal Ascot 2020

Tactical lands the Windsor Castle Stakes – and becomes Her Majesty The Queen's 24th Royal Ascot winner and her first since 2016 #RoyalAscot pic.twitter.com/n7keTZynIc

— Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 17, 2020

Tactical’s victory was the first of his career after the Toronado colt finished third, beaten 2 lengths, at Newmarket on June 4.

“We thought Tactical had learnt a lot (on debut) and would be a bit sharper, and that very much proved to be the case,” Balding said. “But he still had to get the job done and did it nicely at the end.”

Tactical brought back $8.60 to win and $3.40 to place, Yazaman brought back $12.20 to place, and Muker paid $35.20 to place.