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Big Orange wins a thriller in the Ascot Gold Cup
Big Orange brought the house down by winning one of the most exciting Ascot Gold Cups in recent memory. The 5/1 shot beat odds-on favourite and defending champion Order Of St George and the game front-runner did it the hard way, clinging on by an ever decreasing margin to hold off the Ballydoyle challenger by a short head at the end of two-and-a-half gruelling miles.
Trainer Michael Bell is no back number but he doesn’t have the firepower of many rivals.He was thrilled to see his standard bearer win the big prize.
Bell said:“He’s just absolute superstar. He gives his all and he’s got a heart as big as himself.On fast ground in the middle of the summer, he’s a monster.
“We knew we would probably have to do the donkey work but we were happy to do that. Quest For More went to try and make it but they just weren’t going fast enough for my lad. He’s got an enormous stride pattern and you've got to let him use it.
“I thought James Doyle was in total charge of the situation and I was very happy. Then in the closing stages I was praying for the winning post, saying any religious thing I could think, and the winning post came.”
Bell added:“It’s the feature race of the meeting, an epic race taking on a very good horse in a proper horse race, and I can’t tell you the pride I have got in Big Orange. Enormous pride and great satisfaction for the team at home.”
It was another one that got away for Frankie Dettori, who should have been on board. But his loss was Doyle’s gain.
Doyle said:“Frankie just told me not to interfere with Big Orange.We were a little bit concerned that Roger Charlton’s horse was going to go on and he led us for a couple of furlongs, but I thought I shouldn’t be doing this as I’m interfering with him, so I pulled him out and he pricked his ears nicely. He knows what speed he wants to go at and you just sit as a passenger. I had Frankie’s voice in my head, so just eased him, let him go to the front and the rest was history.
“Big Orange got a little bit lonely and I wished that something had just joined him a bit sooner and he would have won a bit more impressively. It is a long time to be in front when you make the running like that and he had plenty of time to get lonely, so I couldn’t knock him for that.
“I wasn’t sure if Order Of St George was lugging into him a little bit, but it just gave him a little wake-up call and I always knew he was going to hold him to the line.I only knew I was going to be on this horse a couple of mornings ago and he is the people’s horse – it was just a pleasure to ride him.”