ASCOT, England (Reuters) -Favourite Trawlerman, ridden by William Buick, led all the way to win Royal Ascot's headline Gold Cup in record time and make up for missing out last year on a sizzling hot Ladies Day afternoon on Thursday.
The Godolphin-owned seven-year-old, runner-up last year and trained by John and Thady Gosden, beat Aidan O'Brien-trained Illinois (9-4) by seven lengths with Godolphin's Dubai Future (28-1) finishing third.
Trawlerman's official time was four minutes 15.02 seconds, breaking the 2010 track record of 4:16.92 set by Gold Cup winner Rite of Passage.
The race attracted eight entries, with a new winner guaranteed after O'Brien's 2024 winner Kyprios was retired in May due to injury.
Former champion jockey Buick punched the air in triumph as he crossed the finish line to clinch his first Gold Cup victory and a fifth for John Gosden in the space of eight years.
"He's a great horse. We tried it last year and we were only beaten by the great Kyprios. He's been such a good horse, he's so genuine," said Buick, who pulled steadily away over the final furlong.
"I didn't have to touch the brakes once, he was in a nice rhythm and he was relaxed; he went on autopilot, he knows his own speed and he stays well so I was just a passenger.
"First Gold Cup, it's been a long time coming and it's not an easy race to win."
The Gosdens now have five wins on the board at this week's Ascot, the father and son training the St James' Palace Stakes winner Field of Gold on Tuesday as well as Ombudsman in the Prince of Wales Stakes on Wednesday.
Fancied French entry Candelari, from the stable of the Aga Khan, finished sixth and 29 lengths behind the winner on his British debut.
First run in 1807, the Gold Cup is a two-and-a-half-mile marathon showpiece that ranks as one of the greatest tests of stamina in flat racing and features the best staying horses in Europe.
Leading jockey Ryan Moore later completed a day's treble, and chalked up his 90th Royal Ascot winner, with Trinity College winning the Hampton Court Stakes.
Moore, now 10th in the all-time list of British flat jockeys with 2,595 career wins, also won the Ribblesdale Stakes with Garden of Eden and the Norfolk Stakes with Charles Darwin.
The Thursday of the five-day festival that starts on Tuesday is traditionally known as Ladies Day and stands out as an afternoon mixing fashion and sport on the nation's social calendar, with King Charles in attendance.
Water was handed out as temperatures hit 30 degrees Celsius, with organisers reporting 42 people had received treatment for heat-related conditions on Wednesday and one taken to hospital.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis and Pritha Sarkar)
