Dettori guides Sunray Major to victory at Ascot

IT MAY be 25 years since he sprang to prominence with his ‘Magnificent Seven’, but Frankie Dettori is still planning for the future as Sunray Major continued to make up for lost time at Ascot.

A half-brother to Kingman, John and Thady Gosden’s runner was off the track for over 450 days before he returned to action with a smooth success at Chelmsford recently.

Saddled with top-weight in a class three handicap here he looked a cut above his rivals in the paddock — and so it proved on the track, with Dettori hitting the front a long way from home.

While he got slightly tired in the closing stages, the 11-10 favourite still won by two lengths from Ibiza Rocks and at this stage Sunray Major could still live up to his family honour.

‘We always thought a bit of bit of him, but he had an injury which kept him off for a year and a half. John was very patient,’ said Dettori.

‘That was a good run. He’s lost a lot of time in his career so we are playing catch up at the moment, but I think John had the Balmoral on Champions Day in mind. ‘He’s quite a heavy horse so he just got a little tired at the end, but it’s understandable given he missed a year and a half.’

Thady Gosden said: ‘He possibly hit the front a bit soon and ran around a bit.

‘He’s obviously very talented and while he’s in the Balmoral we could look at going up in grade, it’s something for us all to discuss.’

When a horse displays an affinity for a course it may as well be Ascot and Charlie Hills’ Dark Shift (9-2) is sure to have plenty of options to come back next year.

The three-year-old registered his third win at the track from just four runs and showed he stayed a mile on his first run over the trip when prevailing in a blanket finish to the Racing To School Classified Stakes under Danny Tudhope. ‘He’s doing really well and he loves it here, he’s won three now,’ said Hills.

‘We were on a bit of a learning mission today over a mile, but he seems to have got it well so that opens up options for next year.

‘He loves a bit of cut, but I don’t think he’ll get into the Balmoral so we’ll look at the Royal meeting and all those types of races.’