Tin Man shows mettle for Tom
THE TIN MAN gave jockey Tom Queally his biggest win since he was partnering the mighty Frankel as he raced to a thrilling victory in yesterday’s feature Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
In the final furlong, the James Fan shaw e-trained 9-2 winner drifted left into third-placed 2-1 favourite Limato, who in turn shifted into runner-up Tasleet.
The manoeuvre cost Queally a two-day careless riding ban but the authority of The Tin Man’s neck winning margin meant his team were hardly sweating on t he outcome of the stewards’ enquiry.
Being a gelding, five- year- old The Tin Man’s future is not governed by thoughts of being retired to stud as a stallion.
His future is racing and that is excellent news for Queally, who has not had an ace in his pack since Frankel — the unbeaten championampion and dual Royal Ascot winner trained by the late Sir Henry Cecil — retired in 2012.
The Tin Man, who also won the Group One sprint on Champions Day at Ascot in October, has now supplied Queally with both his top- level wins in his post-Frankel career.
It was also Queally’s first winner at Royal Ascot since 2013 and he and The Tin Man will chase further Group One success in next month’s July Cup at Newmarket.
That will be a tall task, with the opposition expected to include Aidan O’Brien’s unbeaten Commonwealth Cup winner Caravaggio.
But Queally will relish the challenge. The jockey said: ‘It is hard to get rides at meetings like this and even harder to get winners. You’re
only as good as the horse you’re on and it’s nice to have one of this calibre to come to the big meetings with. This is what it’s all about.
‘I would be quite happy going into the July Cup as the underdog. There would not be any pressure. I was very taken with Caravaggio, who quickened up pretty well and put in a relentless run to the line. ‘But my fella quickened as well as he has ever quickened today. He is the bestbe sprinter I have ridden. ‘He’s a great horse and exceptional in this division. He stamped his authority on them there.’ Fanshawe was winning the Diamond Jubilee Stakes for a second time after being successful in 2011 with Society Rock. The Tin Man is also a half-brother to Fanshawe’s 2011 Wokingham Handicap winner Deacon Blues.
The trainer said :‘ There is nowhere like Royal Ascot to have Group One winners. The horse is so laid-back, but when he produces that kind of performance it is thrilling.’
The Tin Man is named after legendary jockey Fred Archer, who won 12 races at Royal Ascot in 1878. Archer’s nickname arose because he liked to chase the ‘tin’, then slang for money. The finest jockey of the Victorian era, who survived on a starvation diet, once owned the Pegasus Stables in Newmarket now occupied by Fanshawe. Tragically, Archer killed himself in 1886 in a fit of depression.
Elsewhere, the final day of the royal meeting was about Aidan O’Brien and near-misses.
O’Brien took his tally for the meeting to six and landed the top trainer title with two more successes, courtesy of September in the Chesham Stakes and Idaho in the Hardwicke Stakes. It is the eighth time O’Brien has been the
meeting’s top trainer and third time in succession.
But the half-length Hardwicke victory for Seamus Heffernan-ridden Idaho from Barsanti came in a race where most of the crowd had been hoping for a win for the Queen and her 9-4 favourite Dartmouth.
On ground that was probably t oo f ast f or him, Dartmouth, winner of the 2016 Hardwicke, faded into fourth.
His defeat meant trainer Sir Michael Stoute went through the meeting without a win. He remains locked on 75 victories with Cecil as the meeting’s most successful trainers.
Stoute said: ‘I thought it was looking good but then it got serious. He wasn’t good enough today.’
Josephine Gordon’s quest to become only the second female jockey to ride a winner at the meeting and the first for 30 years missed by half a length.
Gordo n was second in the Wokingham Stakes on Steady Pace behind 25-1 David O’Meara-trained, Danny Tudhope-ridden Out Do.