Weaver filly Crimson Advocate wins at Royal Ascot

The U.S. got its first win at Royal Ascot 2023 Wednesday, with Crimson Advocate, a 2-year-old filly trained by George Weaver, winning the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes by a nose.

The Nyquist filly, ridden by John Velazquez, was 9-1 in the five-furlong turf sprint. She appeared to have the race in hand in the final two furlongs, but Relief Rally, at 5-1, came on strong but was just short at the wire. The 11-4 favorite in the 26-horse field was Beautiful Diamond, who finished third. The winning time was 59.96 seconds.

"I have so much respect for the horses over here," Weaver told the Royal Ascot media team. "It always seems like the European horses are better grass horses than what we have, but I knew our filly was very talented and I was hoping that she would be able to get the job done. Don’t get me wrong, the way she won at Gulfstream, I was very excited about her, but like I said, I have tremendous respect for the trainers and horses that are over here."

Crimson Advocate earned her way into the Queen Mary with a 3 1/2-length win in the black-type Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Gulfstream Park on May 13. Velazquez rode the runner-up in that race, and he told analyst Claudia Spadaro for Gulfstream that he told Weaver after the race that he wanted to ride Crimson Advocate at Ascot.

The race was the third start for Crimson Advocate. She finished third in a maiden special weight at Keeneland on April 26 before winning the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies.