Frankie’s agony as his big day falls flat
HOPES of a fairytale ending to the Royal Ascot career of Stradivarius, with a record- equalling fourth Ascot Gold Cup win under Frankie Dettori, turned into a horror story yesterday.
For the second year running, the pair were beaten without having a decent shot at the prestigious prize. One of the great stayers of the modern era frustratingly finished third to 13-8 favourite Kyprios, beaten just over a length, with Mojo Star splitting them.
Time may tell that in Aidan O’Brien- trained, Ryan Mooreridden Kyprios, four years his junior and racing for only the seventh time, Stradivarius was up against the new staying star.
But the distance between the two was narrow enough to wonder what might have been had Dettori not needed to dramatically angle out widest of all in the home straight, to extricate himself from a wall of horses, before he could launch a challenge. There were echoes of 12 months ago, when Stradivarius finished fourth to Subjectivist, his chance blown when he was caught in traffic on the home turn.
Asked if it felt like a prize had got away, John Gosden, who trains Stradivarius with son Thady, said: ‘Slightly.’ Pointedly, Gosden’s first thought when Dettori returned to the winner’s enclosure was to ask him why he had got so far back from his draw in starting stall two.
And while there was no specific criticism of his 51-year-old stable jockey, it was certainly implied when the trainer said: ‘There was obviously no real pace and I was a bit surprised when being in the box seat he dropped so far back. ‘The problem then is that when they sprint you have to get a run and he had to come widest of all, so his head was turned round.
‘He had a chance in the last furlong but the race had just slipped on him.
‘There are younger horses there that were first and second, but I just wish we had been a little handier and not had to go around a wall of horses.’
Unsurprisingly, Dettori did not believe his home- stretch manoeuvre had cost Stradivarius the race.
He said: ‘It was a bit messy. I had to pull out for a run. It was the only way I could go, on the outside, because everything was getting tight. When I pulled him out I had plenty of time.
‘He had an electric turn of foot when he was young but he is not four any more, he is eight. I laboured a bit in the end and I was never going to get them.’
Not much has gone right for Dettori since his mount Emily Upjohn slipped at the start of the Oaks two weeks ago and blew her chance. And he is still waiting to add to his 76 wins at his favourite meeting of the year.
On Wednesday, his mount Lord North missed out in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes when the blindfold used to the load the horse into the stalls got stuck and he blew the start.
Dettori is the most instinctive jockey since the late, great Lester Piggott. He is also a rider whose performance can be elevated by confidence, which can’t be especially high right now.
The Italian’s mood only darkened when he was subsequently runner-up on the Queen’s horse Saga in the Britannia Stakes. Moore-ridden, Harry and Roger Charlton-trained Thesis took the spoils.
Dettori was then beaten fair and square on odds-on favourite Reach For The Moon, another of the Queen’s runners, for the Hampton Court Stakes. Instead Claymore, in the hands of Adam Kirby, provided a second win at the meeting for trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam. Dettori still has nine rides left at the meeting, including Inspiral in this afternoon’s Coronation Stakes.
He has shown throughout a glittering career that he can turn despondency into dreamland in one inspired moment, but it might need all of Gosden’s psychological skills to lift his rider’s chin off the floor.
All the focus on Stradivarius overshadowed the performance of Kyprios, who delivered a record eighth Gold Cup for Aidan O’Brien and a third for jockey Moore, who said: ‘I don’t think we saw the best of him. I am glad he has come over here and won. There are plenty more good days to be had with him.’