Royal Ascot review and replays: Kyprios lands Gold Cup
A review of Thursday's action at Royal Ascot where Kyprios landed a dramatic Gold Cup for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore.
O'Brien is Cup king again
Kyprios landed a thrilling Gold Cup for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore, a remarkable eighth win in the race for the trainer.
it was a dramatic renewal of the Group One feature with Frankie Dettori having to switch Stradivarius all the way to the stands' side to get racing room down the home straight.
By the time he had clear daylight the winner, sent off the 13/8 favourite, had gone to the front and he ran on strongly to fend off Mojo Star (15/2) and the running-on Stradivarius (2/1) inside the final furlong.
Moore - who was given a two-day ban for careless riding - said: “It wasn’t a nice race to ride. Kyprios stepped slow for him which was unusual. I didn’t like the position I was in. I knew I had Frankie on my inside and they were going slow up front.
“I had to move him to the outside and I don’t like doing that, but I felt I had to keep Kyprios going. He’s got there and Mojo Star has come to us and this fella kicked in then and it was comfortable at the line.
“It wasn’t a true test today, I don’t think we saw the best of him. I’m glad he has come over here and won – there are plenty more good days to be had with him. He is brave. It was a more complicated race than it should have been. I think he was much the best.”
O’Brien said: “Ryan gave Kyprios a great ride. He saved him, held him and controlled the race. I’m delighted for everyone. It’s brilliant. Everyone is here and he is a very brave horse. We thought he would be (a Gold Cup horse) last year. We took him here last year, but he came out underneath the stalls. His back was badly bruised and he didn’t get to race any more.
“He missed the St Leger last year, so it was always the plan that we would train him with this race in mind and give him two preps for it. Everything went great and we think he is a horse who will come on more. Its incredible and it was great Stradivarius was here and he ran in this race. It makes these races even more special and incredible. I’m delighted for all the lads and the team.”
Kia Joorabchian, who owns the second through his Amo Racing team, said: “Mojo Star hasn’t run for an awfully long time. It was his first run this year so to run like that and get the trip was amazing. I think if he had a run, he would have been right up there. He is a big, strong horse. Richard (Hannon) has done a great job with him and Rossa (Ryan) has given him a great ride.
“He has never let us down in the Derby, the St Leger. He has had a lot of seconds, but he is going to get there. We’ll leave future plans to Richard Hannon and see how he goes.”
Dettori felt Stradivarius had enjoyed a less than ideal passage, but it had not cost him the race. He said: “Stradivarius ran good. I had an inside draw and I had to be careful with what I was doing. The pace wasn’t that strong and in the end there was nowhere to go, so I had to take him on the outside which cost me a little bit.
“I don’t think (it cost me the race). The younger horses had fresher legs. I didn’t make too much headway when I pulled him out, only maybe half a length and as we got to the line they were going stronger than me. He has been a good hero, he has been magnificent for racing and a brilliant horse. He just got beat today, he tried and went down fighting. He has been a star. You have to pass on the baton to the younger ones. He did his best and we’re very proud of him.”
Stradivarius is trained by John and Thady Gosden, and the former said: “I think there was obviously no real pace and I was a bit surprised being in the box seat we dropped back so far.
“The problem is when they sprint, you’ve got to get a run and he had to come widest of all, so his head was turned around to get a run. He had a chance the last furlong, but the race had just slipped on them. They had gone a pretty, steady old pace.
“Great horse to get here and to turn up now in five Gold Cups, just to be here, and to have the longevity he’s had. He has come back in and he’s had a nay, he seems happy. So a great credit to the horse and to the owner-breeder for keeping him racing.
“There are younger horses there who are first and second, but I think I just wish we’d been a little handier and not had to go round a wall of horses.”
Gold Cup Analysis - Timeform's David Cleary
It wasn't to be – Stradivarius's second bid to win the Gold Cup for a fourth time, to equal the great Yeats – ended in honourable, and agonising, defeat.
Stradivarius ran better than he had last year, just as then meeting trouble entering the straight, Dettori outwitted by Ryan Moore on Kyprios and then having to wait for Mojo Star to go past before he could ask Stradivarius fully for his effort.
It looked as if Mojo Star's forward move would take him to victory, and he went a neck up early in the final furlong; however, Kyprios rallied, or Mojo Star hung fire, or a bit of both, and Kyprios was driven to a narrow victory. Stradivarius was closing to the line but never quite quickly enough after allowing the first two to make their move ahead of him.
The first two, both four-year-olds, were stepping up considerably in trip and Mojo Star was having his first run since the Arc (he looked in good order and was well backed late on, though), so it may be that the pair will usher in a new order in the staying division.
However, the outcome was far from conclusive, and the connections of the first three, as well as those of Trueshan if it ever rains, may well all fancy their chance of coming out ahead in a rematch.
Lagoon floors Road in Ribblesdale
Magical Lagoon (11/4) ran straight and true to win the Ribblesdale Stakes for Jessica Harrington and Shane Foley.
She looked booked for second as Tom Marquand punched 15/8 favourite Sea Silk Road past her approaching the furlong pole.
However that rival initially drifted left under pressure - allowing the winner to regain the initiative and she was never going to lose it from there, winning by half-a-length.
“Magical Lagoon dug really deep and she stays very well – that is the great thing with her,” said Harrington, who was enjoying a third victory at the big meeting. The race worked out great, she got a lead and then she was able to come upsides William Haggas’ horse who headed her and then she battled back.
“She’s a lovely filly, very straightforward, very easy to train, she’s a lovely relaxed horse. It’s absolutely fantastic to get another one (Royal Ascot winner), they always mean a lot.”
Looking forward she said: “She loves that quick ground – she really enjoys it. The plan was to come here and then go to the Irish Oaks – all being well, that’s the plan. She’s a proper mile-and-a-half filly.”
Haggas said of the lightly-raced Sea Silk Road: “I haven’t got a clue (where she will go), really. We have got her in a few places, but whether it will be a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half, I don’t know. The French Oaks is too early, so we will see. We will try to make her a Group winner first and then we will look at options."
Ridler lands dramatic Norfolk Stakes
Richard Fahey won the Norfolk Stakes for the second successive season with The Ridler.
Partnered by his former stable jockey and sent off a 50/1 chance, the son of Brazen Beau raced on the outside of the field but hung left under a right-handed drive inside the final furlong.
He forced several rivals to snatch up, notably third home Crispy Cat and fourth Brave Nation, but was a length-and-three-quarters clear of 7/4 favourite Walbank at the line.
Inevitably a stewards' enquiry was called but the placings were allowed to stand although Hanagan was given a ten-day careless riding ban.
For Fahey, who had to rule Clearpoint, one of the ante-post favourites for the race, out earlier in the week, all was well that ended well. He said: “You’d have to say it was a bit of a surprise. But I didn’t think he was a 40-1 shot, genuinely I didn’t.”
When pointed out he was 50-1, he added: “So he drifted after I backed him then!
“He is a good, hardy horse. We had him in the Coventry and we had a good, long chat about it all. Clearpoint was taken out of the Norfolk, so we decided to go here. You need a good six-furlong horse to win over five here, especially the pace they went. I’m delighted. Clearpoint just had a dirty scope. He is a horse we like a lot, but I’m not sure he would have beaten this guy on today’s form.”
Asked about Hanagan riding for him again, Fahey said: “It is great. He was happy. I’m happy. The owner was delighted, so everything is good. It wasn’t really a change around of jockeys, it was bringing a young guy in. Paul would still ride for us and he has ridden for us today. You have to look at the future.”
On plans for his winner, Fahey said: “He is quite a quick horse and the route that perfect Power went – the Morny. We’d have to think something like that, because he will have a Group Two penalty and you’d have to go Group One now. Paul said he got a bit lonely and he wandered across the track. If we were placed, I’d have been delighted. It is a tough race to win, so to win it twice is fantastic.”
Hanagan added: "I'm a bit lost of words. I'm just going to enjoy the moment as I'm here again in the winners' enclosure at Royal Ascot. It's tremendous. It's so competitive here but he should never have been 50/1. He had a bad draw at Beverley and just couldn't get into it last time. The form had been franked on Wednesday too.
"This is the best way to get things going - to ride a winner at Ascot - Richard and I have had so many great days and it's great to have another one. I'm freelance now and it's great to get the big winner on the board and get things going again."
Secret out in King George V
4/1 joint-favourite Secret State landed the King George V Handicap for William Buick and Charlie Appleby.
The winner was in front over a furlong out and knuckled down well as strong-travelling Value Bet selection Deauville Legend (14/1) threw down a sustained challenge.
He was closing all the way to the line but Secret State held on by a head with Israr (11/2), Savvy Knight (18/1) and the fast-finishing Flying Dolphin (12/1) filling the minor places.
“We were keen to get out and get a nice pitch, it’s one of those races that can be hard work if you’re in the second half of the field so our plan was always to be in the first half,” Appleby said. “William got him out, got him in a good pitch.
“The pace was steady enough so you know you had to be in the right position when they started quickening. He got that first run on them and the one thing I was always confident of was that this horse will always find. He’s done it on every occasion and today, we’re very pleased and he’s a horse with a profile that’s going the right way.
“We’d be bold enough to say we might work into something like a (Great) Voltiguer (at York), we’d be stepping from handicaps into Pattern company there but he’s done little wrong.”
Thesis rules in Britannia
Thesis (14/1) gained a first career win when just holding off the Queen’s Saga in the Britannia Stakes. Despite going winless to date Roger and Harry Charlton’s Thesis did have some good form in the book and Ryan Moore kicked clear on entering the final furlong.
He needed to be tough close home as Frankie Dettori came from the back of the pack on Saga, going down by just a head.
Harry Charlton said: “Thesis is unbelievably talented. He was second to My Prospero at Newbury and we then got beat in a slowly-run race at Lingfield. He tried to make all at Doncaster and got caught late. Nothing has really gone as we would have liked.
“It was quite a bold call coming here from Juddmonte (owners) with a five-race maiden who we always thought was our best horse. They said give it a go and Ryan said enter the horse, I want to ride him.”
John Gosden said of Saga: “Unlucky, just ran out of racing room.”
Moon can't cope with Claymore
Claymore fended off Reach For The Moon in the Hampton Court Stakes to deny the Queen a Royal Ascot winner.
All week the hope had been that, while the royal silks held various each-way chances, the John and Thady Gosden-trained Reach For The Moon was the one that would provide Her Majesty with a 25th winner at the meeting in her Platinum Jubilee year.
Frankie Dettori tracked Adam Kirby on Claymore into the straight and while on entering the final furlong 2/5 favourite Reach For The Moon drew level, as the contest wore on Jane Chapple-Hyam’s well-regarded colt, who had no joy in the French Guineas last time out, pulled out more to win by a length and three-quarters.
The 7/1 chance was providing Chapple-Hyam with a second winner of the week after Saffron Beach on Wednesday.
Kirby said: “It’s sad for the Queen, but Claymore has always been a proper horse. I think he proved that in his trial (second to Native Trail in the Craven) when he ran a great race. Last time was a disaster. The only positive to come out of it was that it made a man of him. His attitude today was brilliant. It was a first-class performance and hopefully he’ll take another step forward when he gets proper ground. Just to get a winner here is very special. It’s great to be here and full credit to the horse. You can never do it without them – you need the ammunition.”
Delighted owner Mary Slack said: “I’m really thrilled and delighted. We thought he would run well in the French Guineas but from a terrible draw he was hopeless. This was the return. I hardly watched really. I couldn’t be more excited and thanks to Jane who has been brilliant. She has had a great week. I’ve mainly had horses in South Africa, but I’ve been in racing for a long time. I have never been to these heights before.”
First Royal Ascot winner for Boughey
George Boughey saddled his first Classic winner when Cachet won the 1000 Guineas and added a first Royal Ascot victory to his haul as Inver Park 12/1 came home first in the Buckingham Palace Stakes.
Ben Curtis was on board and dismounted on crossing the line which initially caused a moment of worry for the trainer.
“I hope he’s OK, it’s very fast ground, it’s been a very hot day and he’s tried his heart out so we’ll get water on him and hopefully he’s OK,” said Boughey.
“It’s amazing, he’s very tough and progressive and it’s great to see Ben back on him. He’s by Pivotal so probably doesn’t want this ground. This is huge credit to Sam Haggas who buys a lot of my horses.
“That’s our 51st winner and we had to wait until July 18 to get 50 last year.”