Shutter Speed steals show
dubai — The John Gosden-trained Shutter Speed won the the £16,000 Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup EBF Stallions Conditions Stakes in the Dubai Duty Free Spring Trials at the Berkshire racecourse in Newbury on Friday.
The Khalid Abdullah-owned filly and the ride of Frankie Dettori, the filly strode to a comfortable win in the race for three-year-olds, the first of eight races backed by Dubai Duty Free at the two-day fixture.
Dettori and Gosden were fulsome in their praise of Shutter Speed and she will head to an Oaks Trial at Chester or York en route to Epsom in June. “She won like a class filly,” said an admiring Dettori. Runner-up was the Group One placed colt Raheen House, giving the form an authentic look.
The Dubai Duty Free Spring Trials set the 2017 season flat racing in motion and it also coincided with The Queen’s 91st birthday.
There hasn’t been a race better named than the Dubai Duty Free Full of Surprises Stakes, a £20,000 seven furlongs handicap for three-year-olds. The winner was 25-1 outsider Bacchus for William Buick, taking time off from his Godolphin duties, to ride for Brian Meehan.
For once the all-conquering John Gosden was foiled as his Chessman, the favourite, failed by a neck to catch Bacchus and add to the leading trainer’s winning run.
Godolphin had struck in the first race. It was for two-year-old newcomers, a promising looking field in which the Godolphin blue was carried by Gold Town to a comfortable victory. Gold Town started favourite and jockey William Buick was quick to say how much the colt would improve for this introduction. “One slight tap was all I needed,” said Buick.
The Dubai Duty Free Class 2 Handicap brought a speedy conclusion to the first day’s sponsorship when Sir Robert Cheval took just sixty seconds to land the £25,000 five furlong sprint.