Order of St. George Thrives in Gold Cup

Last year's Irish and European highweight for more than 13 1/2 furlongs, Order of St. George, again lived up to his distance-loving reputation June 16, at Royal Ascot.

Sent off the 4-5 favorite in the field of 17 going 2 1/2 miles in the Gold Cup in Honor of the Queen's 90th Birthday (Eng-I), Lloyd Williams, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith's Order of St. George delivered an impressive late kick in the final furlongs to charge home in the center of the course for a clear victory.

The 4-year-old Galileo colt, who won last year's Palmerstown House Estate Irish St. Leger (Ire-I) was guided to victory by Ryan Moore for trainer Aidan O'Brien, who secured his seventh Gold Cup.

"You never know if they are going to get the trip if they have never been over that. He won the Irish St Leger on soft ground by 11 or 12 lengths off a strong pace and if he wasn't going to stay, there were very few horses that would.

"It was great. He is a brave horse and Ryan Moore gave him a great ride. The lads did a great job getting him back as he had a little setback at the end of last year and we were a little bit worried if we were going to get there. ... He just has a big Rolls Royce engine."

Three lengths back in second was Mizzou, owned by Southern California's Jon Kelly. The Irish-bred 5-year-old son of Galileo earned his first group I-placing. Mizzou is trained by Luca Cumani and Andrea Atzeni guided him to the runner-up finish.

Earlier in the day Hat Creek Racing and Head of Plains Partners' Red Lodge finished ninth against males in the Norfolk Stakes (Eng-II). The five-furlong test for juveniles was won by The Cool Silk Partnership's Prince Of Lir, by Kodiak.

Trained by Wesley Ward, Red Lodge had entered off a 3 3/4-length victory in a five-furlong maiden race on the Belmont Park turf where the daughter of Midshipman   set a course record by completing the race in :55.73.

• Kitten's Joy picked up another group/graded stakes winner Thursday when Godolphin's Hawkbill extended his win streak to five races and secured his first group stakes score with a clear win in the Tercentenary Stakes (Eng-III) for 3-year-olds going 1 1/4 miles.