DELIGHTED GOSDEN LORDS IT AT ASCOT
WHEN John Gosden looks back at the decisions he made during the 2020 Flat season, few will give him greater satisfaction than giving Lord North the chance to run in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes yesterday. While the majority of the seven-runner field will have had the Group One prize on the agenda for weeks — and even months — in advance, the participation of the four-yearold was still up in the air just hours before the declarations were finalised on Sunday morning. But one of the many reasons why Gosden is champion trainer is knowing where best to place his horses, something Lord North demonstrated with a decisive three-and-threequarter-length victory in the
Group One feature — the first leg of a famous double for James Doyle. Gosden said of the 5-1 winner: ‘He has got better and better. ‘He is a powerful horse and for a gelding he has got a great body to him. ‘I was looking at the race and I was talking to Peter Shoemark, our racing office manager, and said, “This race is winnable for this horse”, so at 9.55am we put him in. It was very late.’ A career at stud after racing may no longer be an option for Lord North, but Gosden believes a major reason behind the rapid progression of last year’s Cambridgeshire winner is down to being gelded at the end of his two-year-old career. He said: ‘This horse became so aggressive at the gate he became a danger to himself let alone others so we took our time with him. ‘He was gelded as he needed to be as he was tormenting himself as testosterone is the most dangerous drug in the world. ‘He is a lovely horse to be around now, a lovely character.’ A good afternoon turned into a fantastic one for Doyle as he carried the silks of the Queen to glory aboard the Andrew Balding-trained Tactical in the Windsor Castle Stakes — a victory that not only turned a dream into reality but was slightly one of redemption, at least in the rider’s eyes. Doyle said: ‘I finished second on Magnetic Charm last year (in the Sandringham for the Queen) and I was absolutely gutted. ‘I could have done things slightly different so to get it right today it does mean a lot.’ While bigger and better prizes will continue to be won by Doyle throughout the remainder of his career, his latest Listed-race success is one that will always take high rank among his list of achievements. He said: ‘I’ve been lucky in the last few years to get on some nice horses like Crystal Ocean and Poet’s Word. ‘I’m lucky with the position in a sense so I’m taking advantage of it which is nice. ‘It is just a huge honour. It is not one of the flagship races here, but it is the connections involved. It is just great.’