Marsha’s win leaves Dettori ‘speechless’
Jockey punches the air but Lady Aurelia beaten Montaly takes Lonsdale Cup from Dartmouth
For the third time in three years, and the fifth in seven, a filly won the Coolmore Nunthorpe yesterday. However, it was not Lady Aurelia who was crowned York’s queen of speed, but, rather, the Sir Mark Prescott-trained Marsha who got up on the line to win by a nose.
Frankie Dettori, who punched the air in celebration, was not the only person who thought he had won on the 10-11 favourite Lady Aurelia, but for the third time this week a close finish went to the horse on the stands side, which, certainly to people beyond the line, looked like it had been beaten.
“I’m speechless,” said Dettori, who rarely gets these things wrong. “You saw it yourself – I thought I’d won a neck!”
It was a valiant effort from Lady Aurelia. She was out on her own for the final two furlongs and the challenge did not come as expected from Battaash but Prescott’s Prix de l’abbaye winner. Prescott, who was in Ireland, left the saddling to his assistant William Butler.
“To be honest, I thought she had won but Frankie put me off by celebrating,” Butler explained. “She always does her best work towards the finish, and with it billed as Lady Aurelia versus Battaash we were under the radar for once.
“People forget she was favourite for the King’s Stand. Sir Mark wasn’t at the l’abbaye either, so maybe it’s best he stays away.”
It was Luke Morris’s first domestic Group One winner, but his third overall. “I was in despair when I saw Frankie celebrating, so I went from despair to joy in 30 seconds.”
Lady Aurelia’s trainer, Wesley Ward, was pragmatic. “No excuses,” he said. “She beat us on the square. I don’t have any issues with it. She was in the gate a little long but had a beautiful trip. She was beaten by the width of the hair on my chinnychin-chin – that’s racing.”
Another missing winning trainer was Andrew Balding, who was on his way to Goodwood when Montaly added the Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup to the Chester Cup.
He also looked beaten before the photo finish revealed she had got up on the line under PJ Mcdonald to deny the Queen’s Dartmouth.
Partly through superstition, Balding now seeks out other racecourses when Montaly is running, having left his wife Anna-lisa to saddle him at Chester but been present for his subsequent defeat at Haydock.