HARDWICKE STAKES AT ROYAL ASCOT BECKONS FOR DARTMOUTH FOLLOWING THRILLING WIN AT YORK
reference to Dartmouth travelling to Australia for the Melbourne Cup later this year.
“Dubai was the plan after Canada, where it went wrong, but he had a setback which meant he couldn’t go which was a shame as it would have been nice to have a runner at the Carnival.
“We’ve always regarded him as nearly a Group One horse but abroad, sometimes that is enough to win a Group One.” Moore, ever the stoic winner, said: “He felt very easy the whole way, he’s got mile-anda-half pace, he was just doing a little too much in stages.
“He travelled beautifully and is such an honest horse, but it didn’t help that I was apart from them and he’s done very well.
“That’s his fourth Group race now, we know what he is, he’s a very honest horse. Ralph Beckett said of Simple Verse: “It was a tremendous run, obviously the 3lb penalty didn’t help but she will go to Ascot for the Gold Cup. I’ve no doubt she’ll stay, she’s a joy to train and she loves Ascot.”
Praise for High Jinx
Tim Easterby was thrilled with High Jinx, who was formerly with James Fanshawe, saying: “Delighted with that, he ran a cracker. He’ll go to Ascot and then to France. It was his first run for us, his owners just decided on a change of scenery to freshen him up.”
Yesterday’s renewal of the Yorkshire Cup is part of the Qipco British Champions Series, the first of five York contests that are part of this special series of the top races in Britain.
Prize money over the three days of the Dante Festival has risen for the sixth year in succession, increasing by £45,000 again this year to £1.2m, with all four of the Group Two contests receiving a boost of £5,000 per race and every race worth £20,000 or more.
With a feature race on each day sitting within the top 250 contests in the world, the York season featured a feast of top quality racing.