I am backing Gosden and Dettori to clean up
Royal Ascot will be full of stars this week and potent pairing will have some of the brightest
Every major tournament needs its stars to shine, and I am in no doubt that Royal Ascot will be ablaze with them this week.
Cracksman is the best horse in Europe and Frankie Dettori was fascinating last week when he gave his take on why the four-year-old colt failed to impress in the Coronation Cup at Epsom earlier this month.
“Cracksman has a much longer stride than any other horse I’ve ridden. When he’s going uphill, it’s great; his feet meet the ground without hanging in the air too long; but when he’s going downhill, it feels like forever before his feet hit the ground and he can take another stride,” he said.
Dettori was laughing as I scratched my head and tried to work that out; but I get it now. It makes complete sense. And Cracksman will be a different animal on Wednesday around Ascot’s gently climbing contours just as he was when slaughtering his rivals in the Champion Stakes last autumn.
John Gosden has reinvigorated his old ally Dettori for the second time in the Italian’s career, and they could have a seriously productive week, such is his genius at bringing horses to the boil at the right moment.
Stradivarius has to take on Order of St George in the Gold Cup on Thursday, but one feels the time is right for a changing of the guard and Gosden’s stayer will bounce off the ground if the weather stays dry.
It may sound like a statement of the obvious, but Aidan O’brien also looks set fair to have a great week. If one is looking for value, however, I suggest that you consider his longer-priced, “less fancied” runners in the two-yearold races. Like children, these horses all progress along different timelines. But O’brien would not bring any two-year-old to Ascot unless he thought they had a real chance.
One of the most interesting developments around the Royal meeting has been the establishment in 2014 of the Qipco Goffs London sale at the Orangery, next to Kensington Palace, on the eve of the meeting.
In excess of £20million worth of bloodstock has been traded there in the past four years, and there will be fireworks this evening as 30 lots go under the hammer, most of whom are destined to run at Ascot this week.
Three horses caught my eye this year. Main Street, a three-year-old trained by Gosden who ran a blinder last time out at Goodwood, where he was a bit unlucky to get caught by a horse racing wide of him. He is in the Edward II Stakes and the Hampton Court Stakes.
Vintage Brut, a fast, gutsy two-year-old who won the National Stakes at Sandown for Tim Easterby; he is being aimed at the Norfolk Stakes. And Mr Reckless, a three-year-old trained by Jamie Osborne. He travelled impressively when he won at Wetherby and might run in the King George Stakes. However, if Willie Mullins is there it would not surprise me if Mr Reckless is on his way to Ireland by the morning.
Since the construction of the new stand at Ascot, serious thought has been given to making the grounds as elegant as a quintessentially British summer sporting occasion should be. The collection of bronze sculptures which has been collected this year surpasses anything that has gone before; it is an impressive exhibition in its own right.
My eye is drawn to the equine works, which obviously complement the moment. Regular racegoers will be familiar with Charlie Langton’s life-size bronze of multiple Gold Cup winner Yeats in the paddock at Ascot. He will be displaying a study of the great Arc de Triomphe-winning mare Treve.
But my favourite is an Andalusian stallion by the Oxfordshire-based artist Hamish Mackie. It is raw and magnificent.
There are also some beautiful “horsey” works by Gill Parker, Edward Waites and Andrew Lacey.
In an age when dumbing down is assumed to be the elixir that will capture public opinion, perhaps the popularity of Ascot’s great exhibition can prove that the panacea is, in fact, excellence.