Royal Ascot has developed into the equine Olympics
INTERNATIONAL: TEN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES REPRESENTED AT THIS FIVE-DAY FESTIVAL OF RACING ʂ Jockey Ryan Moore has scribes searching for new superlatives.
London
Royal Ascot was once considered the best four-day race meeting in Europe, but after last week few would argue that it has grown into the best five-day Festival in the world.
Turn the clock back 16 years and Royal Ascot could boast only three Group 1s – now they have eight and it has developed into the equine Olympics, with 10 different countries represented this time around and a record 13 winners going to the foreign raiders.
It was a shame Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome picked up a stone-bruise which caused his late defection, while Able Friend, the Hong Kong superstar, left his brilliance back at Sha Tin and was an abject failure in the Queen Anne Stakes.
But the enterprise of US trainer Wesley Ward in bringing nine horses across the Atlantic reaped its reward when Undrafted pipped Aussie flyer Brazen Beau in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee and the powerhouse that is Acapulco annihilated the opposition in the Queen Mary, while France celebrated three victories, two at the top level.
Apart from the Saturday, increased crowds enjoyed glorious sunshine, their mood being aided by the fact 10 of the favourites triumphed, and never before have had we had so many close finishes with half of the 30 races being decided by 0.5 lengths or less.
These last 12 months racing professionals have been united in hailing Ryan Moore as the best jockey on the globe and although ever the perfectionist, he is still kicking himself about the two that got away (Kingfisher in the Gold Cup and Sir Isaac Newton in the Jersey) the sometimes monosyllabic rider had us scribes searching for a fresh bunch of superlatives as nine times he waved his magic wand to beat the previous tally of winners at the Royal meeting, achieved by both Lester Piggott and Pat Eddery.
Yet some things never change. Those big-spending battalions from the Middle East, Godolphin and the Al Shaqab Racing operation, were relatively successful – the boys in blue had two winners and eight more in the frame while the Qataris won a Listed handicap with Osaila – but neither could hold a candle at the celebration party to the Coolmore team, who mopped up an amazing seven winners in various guises. They remain the most powerful set of owners in the world.
Five of the Coolmore winners were trained by Aidan O’Brien, but Wes Ward and David Wachman also weighed in with “one for the lads”, with the money being down on Ward’s Acapulco in the Queen Mary Stakes.
Acapulco looked in the paddock like an Orc thrown in against the dwarfs so had to be backed. She towered over her rivals and was a monster in full flight and though her physical advantage might be eroded come next season, I would be in no hurry to oppose the American speedball wherever she runs next.
First of the Irish jigs came on the opening day, courtesy of dual Guineas winner Gleneagles in the St James’s Palace Stakes. He stamped his class all over the Royal Heath with another demolition job, being much more impressive back on his favoured fast ground, and in all probability he now faces a head-on clash with French ace Solow, who never looked like beaten in the Queen Anne. The pair are likely to meet in the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, where I will definitely be in the Gleneagles camp.
O’Brien, who trains Gleneagles, peaked his horses at the right time and everything he saddled at the meeting ran out of their skins, while though his Air Force Blue was beaten by Godolphin’s Burantino in the Coventry, the Irish horse is still much preferred as a likely lad for next year’s 2000 Guineas. That 2016 classic might be a long way away, but the 14-1 should be taken as he reminds me very much of Henrythenavigator, who did the Coventry Guineas double in 2008-9.
Punting-wise, Wednesday is always the toughest day, but in my case not this year. We got a bloody nose in the Jersey when Ivawood, reckoned the banker of champion trainer Richard Hannon’s team, impersonated someone who was suffering from a hangover from the previous evening’s car-park parties, but losses were retrieved on Acapulco, and then, hopefully, you followed my recommendation for Gm Hopkins, backed from 14-1 to 8-1 for the 28-runner cavalry charge which is the Royal Hunt Cup.
Luckily I had bumped into Irish champion jockey Pat Smullen when out walking the track before racing, and he convinced me that Free Eagle – “the best horse that I have ever ridden” – was straight enough to win the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, so, while apart from the odd celebration, the wheels came off the last three days, we still ended up well in front.
Free Eagle was very brave in holding off The Grey Gatsby in an epic scrap – “the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe are both on the table,” declared trainer Dermot Weld, who felt Forgotten Rules, only third when favourite for the Gold Cup, did not quite see out the stamina test. The Irish St Leger and Ascot’s Long Distance Cup on Champions Day is now the plan.
The staying crown was won by Ed Dunlop’s Trip to Paris, an ex-handicapper who was supplemented into the race at a cost of £35,000 to his seven owners. Now the dream is to make up for all the near-misses of stablemate Red Cadeaux at Flemington by winning the Melbourne Cup.
June has proved a rich harvest for Frankie Dettori, who, having been down in the doldrums for several seasons after severing his ties with Godolphin, is back on a high, showing all his old flare to ride three winners at the meeting.
Dettori, who won the Derby on Golden Horn and the French Oaks on Star Of Seville earlier in the month, admitted to be “mighty impressed” with his first acquaintance of Time Test in the Tercentary Stakes. Arguably the easiest winner of the meeting, Time Test looks another potential Khalid Abdullah star. He runs next in the Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly and then the Juddmonte International at York, a race sponsored by his owner-breeder.
Abdullah also struck with Snow Sky in the Hardwicke Stakes, in which Sir Michael Stoute’s colt was given a brilliant waiting-infront ride by Pat Smullen.
Connections are now considering supplementing Snow Sky for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, where he could well face a rematch with Eagle Top and Postponed, both of whom were unsuited by the stopstart pace. John Gosden assures me that Eagle Top “is much better than that”, so losses might only be on loan.
We are accustomed to seeing American horses blitz the Brits with their electric early speed, but, in contrast, Dettori adopted waiting tactics on Undrafted in the Jubilee, swooping on Brazen Beau on the line for a dramatic success.