Cracksman and Dettori looking like star turns
Even aged 47, the public face of racing is still a contender to be leading rider for a sixth time
Royal Ascot may not be all about the racehorse to each and every one of the 300,000 people who attend from Tuesday to Saturday but whether you are there for the pageantry, the fashions, the food and drink, business or for purely social reasons, it is all because of the racehorse.
There is, quite frankly, no other event quite like Royal Ascot. Success on this patch of heath that the prescient Queen Anne spotted as ‘‘an ideal places for horses to gallop at full stretch’’ in 1711, now Flat racing’s most highly decorated shop window, is, more than ever, regarded as critical.
Whether you are long established, trying to get your feet under racing’s top table or even on its first rung, breeders, owners, trainers and jockeys all crave a winner here more than anywhere else. Success next week is season-defining for humans, career-defining for horses.
Last Thursday Frankie Dettori described it as “the pinnacle” of
the sport. “The Epsom Derby is just one race,” he explained. “Ascot is 30 races, five days, for young and old, colts, fillies, geldings, mares, sprinters and stayers, Group One horses and handicappers. It’s very international, you get full fields; every race is hard to win and getting harder. To win a race means everything.”
Having missed Ascot with a broken shoulder last year it will be good to have Dettori, the public face of racing, back in the saddle. At 47 he will not have a million more Royal Ascots and it would be a surprise if there are not at least a couple of trademark flying dismounts in Ascot’s hallowed horseshoeshaped winner’s enclosure next week.
With Cracksman, Without Parole, Redkirk Warrior, Calyx, Chelsea Cloisters and Stradivarius among his rides, Dettori is a good bet to be leading rider for a sixth time although Ryan Moore, with Coolmore behind him, is favourite to lift that title for the fifth year in succession.
Cracksman, Dettori’s mount in Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes could turn out to emulate his sire, Frankel, by being the star of the meeting.
At odds-on, though, he is best watched rather than backed, but if he repeats his Champion Stakes win at the track in the autumn, hang on to your hats.
Usually the best racing at Ascot is on the first day. There is no gradual build-up. It is bang and you are into it. In contrast to most years, there is a dearth of top-class older milers in Europe at the moment and the opening Queen Anne Stakes appears to lack a class act but Recoletos, the French colt, should get things up and running.
The superpowers Godolphin and Coolmore and their trainers, Charlie Appleby, Saeed bin Suroor and Aidan O’brien, will get many shots at glory this week so it would be terrific for the game if the St James’s Palace is fought out between Romanised, the impressive Irish 2,000 Guineas winner, and our own 2,000 Guineas runner-up, Tip Two Win. They are trained by Ken Condon and Roger Teal respectively, who both run small set-ups, and a victory for either keeps the dream alive for the small man.
I get it that a lot of people go to Ascot and do not see a horse, but even if you are looking for her you might not see Chelsea Cloisters, the American filly, in Wednesday’s Queen Mary. Another Wesley Ward special, she won over four and a half furlongs at Keeneland by eight lengths on her only start in a very quick time. “Just hang on” is likely to be the trainer’s instruction to Dettori.
Thursday’s Gold Cup was the race of the week last year. Moore and Order of St George, a narrow second to Big Orange last year, are back with a point to prove but are against France’s best, Vazirabad, and the progressive stayers Stradivarius and Torcedor.
The Coronation Stakes on Friday is not traditionally a ‘sexy’ race but it pits the English, French and Irish Guineas winners, Billesdon Brook, Teppal and Alpha Centauri against each other in a ‘decider’ while the Commonwealth Cup, Ascot’s newest race, is already one of the most anticipated contests of the meeting. There is a lot of chat about Equilateral but he needs to take a big step and Main Desire looks a good eachway bet at 20-1.
The home side’s Harry Angel against the Aussie speedball Redkirk Warrior in the Diamond Jubilee on Saturday is a mouth-watering note on which to finish.
Of course, it is never too late to get involved. On Monday night, 22 intended Ascot runners will come under the hammer at the fifth Goffs London Sale in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Less than £100,000 might secure you entry into the paddock as an owner next week, which is probably not the worst investment, given that you could spend that on a yearling which turns out to be not good enough to make it.
Also back, apart from Dettori, will be a large Middle Eastern contingent. The last three Royal Ascots have fallen during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim year when fasting is observed from dawn to sunset, which means a lot of Arab owners have preferred to stay away.
Apart from a good scrap or a good hat, what is likely to put Royal Ascot on the front pages this week? The absolute certainty in that
department is the anticipated racecourse debut in the Royal Procession for the Duchess of Sussex.
With more than a dozen American runners she will have plenty to shout about, and if she decides to go on Tuesday she might see history made as Lady Aurelia attempts, in the King’s Stand Stakes, to become the first horse outside of Europe to win at Royal Ascot for a third time. Only Battaash, it seems, stands in her way.
‘The Epsom Derby is just one race. Ascot is 30 over five days. To win a race means everything’