COMMUNIQUE WILL DELIVER GRAND FINALE
Poet’s Word gives trainer winner No 76 to pass Cecil
Bank on COMMUNIQUE (ascot, nap, 5.35) to make a statement and land the finale on day three of the Royal meeting today.
Trainer Tra Mark Johnston has endured a quiet week to date, but a number of his best chances appear appe to lie in the second half of the meeting and his progressive stayer looks tailor-made for an ex examination of this nature.
a ah high draw isn’t a negative over a mile-and-ahalf half at ascot — the last seven winners have all been situated in double-figure stalls — and rider Silvestre Silve de Sousa continues to set a blistering pace at the head of the Jockeys’ Championship. Yesterday may have been a day to forget for trainer John Gosden, but STRADIVARIUS (ascot, nb, 4.00) could return the smile to his face with victory in what appears a vintage renewal of the Gold Cup.
The selection posted a brilliant performance on the clock at York on his comeback and could prove tough to handle for likely favourite Order Of St George.
POET’S WORD downed hot favourite Cracksman in the feature Prince Of Wales’s Stakes as trainer Sir Michael Stoute became the most successful in Royal Ascot history.
The James Doyle-ridden 11-2 shot easily picked off a strangely lethargic odds-on favourite Cracksman to pull two and a quarter lengths clear and run out a landmark winner for the Newmarket trainer.
Royal Ascot winner No 76 carried Stoute ahead of the late Sir Henry Cecil, so long his great rival, and into the record books as the meeting’s most successful trainer.
The 72-year-old Stoute will struggle to hold off relentless pursuer Aidan O’Brien, who landed his 62nd royal meeting winner with Kew Gardens in the Queen’s Vase, for too long.
But his legendary status at this iconic meeting is already guaranteed thanks to horses like the Queen’s 2013 Gold Cup winner Estimate, 1989 Jersey Stakes winner Zilzal and 2003 Coronation Stakes heroine Russian Rhythm. Stoute also ensured his lead will take a little longer to erode when landing a double when Expert Eye bounced back to form to run out a clear-cut winner of the Jersey Stakes under James McDonald.
It was a huge boost to New Zealander McDonald, who only returned to action in May after an 18-month ban Down Under for placing a bet which cost him his job with Godolphin.
Reflecting on his moment of history made even sweeter by the fact he had endured a barren meeting in 2017, Stoute said: ‘It had a lot of publicity last year and I thought we would have two or three winners and we didn’t so I have not been thinking about this time. The yard will love it.
‘Henry’s record was formidable because he accumulated those numbers when there were four days of Royal Ascot for most of his career. I have had an advantage. We were great friends and it means a lot.’
Both yesterday’s winners were an appropriate reminder of why Stoute has carved such a glittering career which started at this meeting with Etienne Gerard’s 1977 Jersey Stakes victory.
Expert Eye, so bitterly disappointing since looking like the second coming when winning at Glorious Goodwood last year, has been coaxed back to form while Poet’s Word is typical Stoute, a classy colt given time to grow and blossom. Last October in the Champion Stakes over the same course and distance, Poet’s Word had been beaten seven lengths by Cracksman.
But the colt had shown evidence he was still improving with a fair second in the Sheema Classic in Dubai in March and victory in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown last month.
Stoute said: ‘I wasn’t confident but he is a model of consistency. He deserved one of these but it doesn’t always work that way.’
The fate of 2-5 favourite Cracksman if not the actual result could be called a long way out.
Jockey Frankie Dettori never looked happy and the son of Frankel looked laboured. Dettori said: ‘He was very lethargic and was never travelling at any stage. Usually when he turns for home the turbo kicks in but today he was very one-paced.’
Trainer John Gosden said his colt needed to re-focus and had perhaps been distracted by the fillies which had run in the preceding Duke of Cambridge Stakes. He said: ‘I make no excuses. The winner had him covered from two out. To my mind he is just playing around a little bit.
‘He did it at Epsom. We will have to get him home and sharpen him a little bit.’