Stradivarius reaps reward of Ascot in race for top stayer
Stradivarius and Merchant Navy both moved to the top of their respective categories, Stayer and Sprinter, in the Cartier Awards as a result of wins at Royal Ascot last week.
Due to the paucity of Group One staying races, winning the Gold Cup has always gone a long way to crowning the Cartier Stayer of the Year. John Gosden’s four-year-old, who warmed up for Ascot by winning the Group Two Yorkshire Cup, will get his next chance to add to his points when he defends the Goodwood Cup at the start of August.
Merchant Navy, winner of the Golden Jubilee, might only get one more opportunity to add points to his tally before he returns to Australia to take up stallion duties in September. If he were to win the July Cup at Newmarket, however, he might yet take some catching in the Sprint category.
The Derby winner Masar kept his powder dry during Ascot, waiting for the Coral-eclipse at Sandown a week on Saturday. He still heads the Cartier Three-year-old Colt category, but Laurens and Cracksman have overtaken him in the race for Cartier’s most prestigious award, Horse of the Year.
Karl Burke’s filly won the Prix de Diane at Chantilly just before Ascot and she still leads Coronation Stakes winner Alpha Centauri, the outstanding winner at Ascot last week, in a strong-looking Threeyear-old Fillies category. The two fillies could not have more contrasting styles of racing, though both are equally effective; Laurens grinding it out from the front, Alpha Centauri with an explosive turn of foot from off the pace.
Cracksman did not exactly cover himself in glory at Ascot, finishing runner-up to Poet’s Word in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, but he has, nevertheless, won two Group Ones and been runner-up in another this season.