Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SIX APPEAL
Stradivarius storms home to bag his sixth win at York on final visit and take a record 18th G1
STRADIVARIUS galloped into the record books with an 18th Group victory in the Yorkshire Cup — and will now seek to regain his crown in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.
The winner of yesterday’s Paddy Power-sponsored Group 2 in 2018 and 2019, Frankie Dettori’s mount took his tally at York to six from six with a one-length margin from Thunderous.
The victory took the eight-year-old past Cirrus Des Aigles’ total of 17 triumphs in European Group races and John Gosden, who trains Stradivarius in tandem with son Thady, observed: “He hit a little bit of a flat spot and, the next thing you know, he got Frankie there too soon.
“It was tremendous. He’s a great one for the crowds. Someone asked me what it was like and I said, ‘It’s like Desert Orchid!’ He’s an eight-year-old entire – if he was an eight-year-old gelding it would be a different ball game.
“He was a bundle of fun to saddle, on his hind legs – every time he saw a filly he started showing off – but he came over here and he was as professional as ever.”
Dettori added: “My mouth is a bit dry and I’m emotional, but what an incredible story.
“John and Thady have got to take all the credit. They changed different things to get him interested – worked him from the front and the back, taken him to different places, just to get him motivated.”
Retirement was mooted for the chestnut after defeats at Longchamp and Ascot last autumn, but a return to Ladies’ Day on June 16 – three-time Gold Cup hero Stradivarius finished fourth to Subjectivist in 2021 – is now on the cards.
“Let’s hope we can get to Ascot and the ground’s not too deep,” said Gosden, whose stayer is as short as 3-1 to equal Yeats’ record of four Gold Cups next month.
“I think if he had his ground he’d take a lot of beating.”
Royal Ascot is also on the to-do list of Pillow Talk after Kodiac’s daughter fended off Karl Burke stablemate Yahsat by a neck for the Listed Knights Solicitors British Marygate Fillies’ Stakes.