’Rocket ship’ redemption ride
BANNED for 18 months for breaching betting rules, James McDonald has staged a blazing comeback with Royal Ascot triumph.
The Australia-based Kiwi partnered Expert Eye to Group 3 Jersey Stakes (1400m) victory in a fairytale redemption ride on Wednesday night.
“I can’t put it into words, I’m really speechless. I never thought 18 months ago I’d be here at Royal Ascot,” McDonald said.
Outed for 18 months in 2016 after breaching betting regulations by backing a horse he was riding at Randwick, McDonald was dumped by Global racing giant Godolphin. But he showed the long absence from the track had not blunted his brilliance with a superb display.
Sir Michael Stoute, now the most successful trainer in Royal Ascot history, had no hesitation in supporting McDonald’s rehabilitation.
“It’s a huge thrill to come here and ride a Royal Ascot winner,” McDonald, 26, said. “This is what it’s all about. “It’s an absolute pleasure, and I have a lot of people to thank for that.
“Expert Eye is a very good horse and showed that today. He won really well.
“He felt like a rocket ship out there. He settled further back than I’d have liked, but he travelled kindly and after the three-furlong pole (600m) he picked up really good.”
Stoute landed a double, the most significant leg being with Poet’s Word who stunned odd-on favourite Cracksman in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes (2000m).
Like Cracksman, Poet’s Word is a Cox Plate invitee.
Stoute said there were plenty of options for Poet’s Word to explore during the British summer before he would make a decision about venturing to Moonee Valley to take on Winx.
Stoute now has 77 royal winners, having started the meeting sharing the record of 75 with his idol and former rival Sir Henry Cecil.
“It is relief because we were stuck on 75 last year. As I said the other night, Henry did most of his training when it was a four-day meeting, so I have had an advantage,” Stoute said. “Nobody re- spected him greater than I did as a trainer.”
Stoute’s 76th Royal Ascot victory came 41 years after his first, Etienne Gerard — also in the 1977 Jersey Stakes.
John Gosden, trainer of Cracksman, said: “He is a clever horse and to that extent, as I said earlier before the race, he was welcoming all the fillies that were walking back from the Duke Of Cambridge on the way back to the stables. I think we need to concentrate his mind, as we know the ability is there.”