Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Stradivarius leads rivals a merry dance at York
STRADIVARIUS gained a 20th career success and made it a perfect six wins from six races on the Knavesmire with victory in yesterday’s Paddy Power Yorkshire Cup under Frankie Dettori.
It was a record-breaking display from Bjorn Nielsen’s eight-year-old, who moved sweetly to the front before finding enough in the end to land an 18th European Group victory.
The John and Thady Gosdentrained charge sat fourth early on behind the pace-setting Thunderous and Franny Norton. When the pace quickened, Stradivarius briefly hit a flat spot but was soon back on the bridle and Dettori eased him between the leader and Max Vega with three furlongs to run.
He hit top stride with a quarter of a mile left to travel, but the favourite idled once hitting the front as he drifted to the stands rail and had to dig deep as Thunderous fought back.
Yet he had a length to spare at the line from the gallant 17-2 runner-up and will now head to Royal Ascot in a bid to land a fourth Gold Cup, for which he was cut to 3-1 by Betfair and Coral.
Gosden senior said: “He hit a little bit of a flat spot, and the next thing you know, he got Frankie there too soon. It was tremendous, he’s a great one for the crowds, isn’t he? Someone asked me what it was like and I said ‘It’s like Desert Orchid’.
“It’s great to be six from six on the Knavesmire and be the leading Group-winning horse of all time in Europe, that takes some doing As long as the ground doesn’t go soft or heavy then we hope to go on to Ascot, which has always been the plan.”