Frankie Dettori: Five best Royal Ascot winners including Fantastic Light and Crystal Ocean

By Timeform

Horse Racing

Mon June 12, 2023 · 1y ago

Timeform highlight Frankie Dettori's top five winners at Royal Ascot based on Timeform ratings.

Intikhab – Queen Anne Stakes (TF performance rating: 135)

Intikhab was a smart three-year-old but he took his form to new heights after joining Saeed bin Suroor in his four-year-old campaign, winning the Queen Anne Stakes in a manner rarely seen in a competitive pattern race.

He settled nicely and tracked the leaders before being pushed along to take up the lead approaching the final furlong. Intikhab stormed clear soon afterwards, extending his advantage all the way to the line, pulling eight lengths clear of the runner-up and the timefigure was also excellent. He looked sure to take all of the beating in all the top races over a mile but unfortunately he was sidelined afterwards with a splint problem and he was beaten on his only other start in the Lockinge the following season.

Fantastic Light – Prince of Wales’s Stakes (TF performance rating: 134)

Fantastic Light had already won three times at the highest level but he proved better than ever when recording his first Group 1 victory on British soil in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

It was the second running of the race as a Group 1 and his success finally brought him the credit his remarkably tough and consistent career deserved. Fantastic Light was held up on the rail before easily extricating himself from a bit of a pocket in the straight, settling matters with a fine change of pace. His pacemaker set a good tempo and the race also resulted in a fast timefigure, Fantastic Light producing a performance on rare merit.

He was beaten by Galileo on his next start in the King George but exacted his revenge in the Irish Champion Stakes before signing off his career with a win in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Belmont.

Rewilding – Prince of Wales’s Stakes (TF performance rating: 132)

The 2011 renewal of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes was a very strong one, So You Think bringing some top-class form to the table, and Rewilding firmly established himself also in that bracket when prevailing by a neck.

He had shown in the Dubai Sheema Classic on his previous start that he was a colt right out of the top drawer, but it was with this second Group 1 success that he put himself up there with the best middle-distance colts.

The strong pace was essential to his chance dropped to a mile and a quarter for the first time since his three-year-old reappearance, while at the same time he benefited from being waited with for longer than So You Think, winding up gradually down the outer and getting on top in the final 50 yards under very strong pressure (Dettori subsequently incurred a nine-day ban for excessive use of the whip).

Sadly, Rewilding suffered a fatal injury on his next start back at Ascot in the King George, and his success in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes was undoubtedly the highlight of his career.

Doyen – Hardwicke Stakes (TF performance rating: 131)

Doyen capped a memorable week for Godolphin when providing them with their sixth winner of the week in the 2004 Hardwicke Stakes and also established himself as Europe’s premier older horse.

He was less stirred up than on his reappearance and looked in good shape beforehand and the bare result how much he had improved from his previous outing, dropped out in the early stages under a very confident Dettori before storming clear from two furlongs out. Doyen wasn’t hard ridden to go clear in the closing stages, stretching six lengths clear of the runner-up, and also smashing Stanerra's course record (set in this race in 1983) in the process. The timefigure recorded was a high-class one rather than being out of the top drawer, but it was still an unusually good one to be put up in a small field.

Richard Fahey - Stable Tour 2023

Crystal Ocean – Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Timeform performance rating: 131)

Crystal Ocean won a strong renewal of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in 2019 for all it was run in foul conditions, beating the well-established Magical by one and a quarter lengths.

He had won the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot the previous year and finally gained his first top-level success after several near misses. Dettori was seen to very good effect in making use of the pacemaker’s services, shaken up to challenge on the home turn and edged ahead on entering the straight.

Crystal Ocean stayed on well in the closing stages, his stamina coming into play at the trip on soft ground, producing the best performance in the race since Rewilding in 2011. He bettered that effort in defeat in the King George on his next start, beaten only by Enable, but unfortunately he was retired later in the year after sustaining an injury on the gallops.

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