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So You Think and Dream Ahead Take Centre Stage in Cartier Racing Awards Points Update 14/07/11

The Cartier Racing Awards are European horseracing’s answer to the Oscars and the current season is proving to be of blockbuster proportions with a star-studded cast stealing scenes with exquisite aplomb before a rapt audience, awed at the brilliance before them.

So You Think
© Racehorse Photos

So You Think

It is rare to witness so many champions and potential legends, from different generations and hemispheres, thrilling racegoers in one glorious Flat racing season, but that is exactly what the sport is witnessing in 2011.

The Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown provided a sparkling example of this on July 2, when the mighty Australian superstar So You Think clashed with last year’s European titan Workforce.

Meanwhile, Dream Ahead reminded all that the Sir Henry Cecil-trained Frankel was not alone at the head of last year’s juvenile rankings when excelling in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket on July 9.

Those two outstanding Group One contests came in the breathless aftermath of Royal Ascot; following the mighty Canford Cliffs’ late surge past last year’s Cartier Horse Of The Year Goldikova that has set up a glorious clash at Goodwood on July 27, with the former set to threaten the unbeaten status of the three-year-old phenomenon Frankel in the QIPCO Sussex Stakes over a mile.

Established in 1991 to reward excellence in horseracing, the Cartier Awards are determined by points earned by horses in Pattern races throughout 2011, combined at the end of season with the opinions of a panel of racing journalists and votes from readers of the Racing Post and The Daily Telegraph.

In addition to the eight equine awards, the Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award of Merit goes to the person or persons who, in the opinion of the special 18-strong Cartier Jury, has/have done the most for European racing and/or breeding either over their lifetime or within the past 12 months.

The 21st Cartier Awards will be presented on the evening of Tuesday, November 15, during a glittering ceremony before an invited audience at London’s Dorchester Hotel.

The 2011 Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park was a race of uncommon quality. So You Think, now trained in Ireland by champion Aidan O’Brien is a dual winner of Australia’s premier Group One contest, the Cox Plate, while the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Workforce had landed both the Investec Derby at Epsom Downs and Europe’s autumn championship decider, the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, in 2010 en route to clinching that year’s Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt award.

Adding lustre to the field was last year’s Investec Oaks heroine Snow Fairy, who had ended last year with four victories in the highest grade, while 2010 Coral-Eclipse Stakes runner-up Sri Putra and Workforce’s pacemaker Confront completed the select line-up.

So You Think, sensationally beaten by Godolphin’s top-class four-year-old Rewilding in the Group One Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, proved himself the master over Sandown’s 10 furlongs, but Workforce made the strapping New Zealand-bred battle for every inch of the half-length winning margin.

So You Think now heads the Cartier Older Horse category with 84 points, 12 clear of the Mahmood Al Zarooni-trained Rewilding (72), while the Richard Hannon-trained Canford Cliffs has 64 points, the equal of the Aga Khan’s four-year-old filly Sarafina, who held Cirrus Des Aigles (52) to win the Group One Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on June 26.

A week on from So You Think’s thrilling triumph, Newmarket’s Piper-Heidsieck July Festival hosted what is more often than not the Group One race that decides the sprint championship of Europe, the six-furlong Darley July Cup.

Dream Ahead
© Racehorse Photos

Dream Ahead

A field of 16 crack speedsters went to post, including Australian challenger, Star Witness (28), who had finished second in the Group One King’s Stand Stakes and third in the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes, both at Royal Ascot. Monsieur Chevalier (24) had taken the runner-up berth in the six-furlong Golden Jubilee Stakes for Hannon, while the Roger Charlton-trained Bated Breath (24) had crossed the line fifth in that contest.

Also among the contenders was the imposing Dream Ahead, trained by David Simcock, whose two brilliant Group One victories as a juvenile last year had seen him share the European Champion Two-Year-Old crown with none other than Frankel, both colts having achieved an official British Horseracing Authority rating of 126.

Dream Ahead had missed his Classic engagements in the spring and headed to the Darley July Cup off the back of fifth place behind Frankel in the Group One St James’s Palace Stakes over a mile at Royal Ascot.

The return to six furlongs was evidently in Dream Ahead’s favour as the giant Diktat colt cruised through the race under Hayley Turner before squeezing through a gap and accelerating clear of his rivals for a comfortable half-length verdict over Bated Breath. Had he not been blocked in his run for a few strides approaching the final furlong, the ease of his win suggested he could have achieved a wider margin of victory.

Dream Ahead is equal top in the Cartier Sprinter division with 48 points, alongside Golden Jubilee Stakes winner Society Rock. King’s Stand Stakes hero Prohibit has 45 points.

Dream Ahead lies joint fourth in the Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt standings, in which Frankel leads on 104 from Treasure Beach (80), who leap-frogged his Investec Derby conqueror Pour Moi (66) with a Classic triumph of his own on June 26.

The O’Brien-trained Treasure Beach had been collared close home when second to Pour Moi at Epsom Downs at the start of June but ended the month with victory in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh, defeating stablemate Seville by three quarters of a length.

Another O’Brien Group One success came at the Curragh the previous day, June 25, when the talented filly Misty For Me added to her Etihad Airways Irish 1,000 Guineas success with an impressive six-length triumph over multiple Group One-winning mare Midday, trained by Cecil, in the Stobart Ireland Pretty Polly Stakes over 10 furlongs.

Misty For Me (72) is joint leader of the Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly category along with the unbeaten Golden Lilac who has won two Classics for trainer Andre Fabre, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and the Prix de Diane Longines.

There is no change in the race to be Cartier Stayer champion, with Ascot Gold Cup hero Fame And Glory on top with 48 points.

With so many brilliant performers gracing the European turf in 2011, there is still a long way to go before the Cartier Horse Of The Year award can be claimed. Leading the charge at this stage is Frankel, whose wins in the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes see him enjoy a clear advantage on points.

So You Think (84) is next in the standings, followed by Treasure Beach (80), Golden Lilac (72), Misty For Me (72) and Rewilding (72) but a whole raft of top performers are waiting to pounce, not least Dream Ahead, Pour Moi, Canford Cliffs, Sarafina, Midday, Snow Fairy, Goldikova and St Nicholas Abbey.

The latest betting from Ladbrokes as to the 2011 Cartier Horse Of The Year is as follows: 9/4 Frankel, 5/2 Canford Cliffs, 3/1 So You Think, 6/1 Pour Moi, 8/1 Goldikova & 12/1 Workforce.

Harry Herbert, Cartier’s racing consultant, commented today: “This season continues to excite and delight. The quality of the horses contesting the championship races makes 2011 a modern vintage.

“So You Think proved at Sandown that he is a champion in two hemispheres and, although defeated, Workforce gained plenty of plaudits for the way he battled and it would not be a surprise if we have not seen the best of him yet.

“As for Dream Ahead, the Darley July Cup victory was awesome and he could be the outstanding sprinter European racing has been waiting for in recent years.

“The action is coming thick and fast now as we hurtle towards the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (sponsored by Betfair ) at Ascot in which St Nicholas Abbey continues his comeback and is due to take on Rewilding, followed by Glorious Goodwood with that mighty ‘Duel on the Downs’ between Frankel and Canford Cliffs in the QIPCO Sussex Stakes.”

 

CARTIER AWARDS 2011 LATEST POINTS STANDINGS
(up to and including July 10, 2011)

CARTIER HORSE OF THE YEAR
FRANKEL 104
SO YOU THINK 84
TREASURE BEACH 80
GOLDEN LILAC 72
MISTY FOR ME 72
REWILDING 72

CARTIER THREE-YEAR-OLD COLT
FRANKEL 104
TREASURE BEACH 80
POUR MOI 66
DREAM AHEAD 48
DUBAWI GOLD 48
RELIABLE MAN 48
RODERIC O’CONNOR 48

CARTIER THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY
GOLDEN LILAC 72
MISTY FOR ME 72
IMMORTAL VERSE 64
BLUE BUNTING 54
DANCING RAIN 48
TOGETHER 48

CARTIER OLDER HORSE
SO YOU THINK 84
REWILDING 72
CANFORD CLIFFS 64
SARAFINA 64
CIRRUS DES AIGLES 52

CARTIER SPRINTER
DREAM AHEAD 48
SOCIETY ROCK 48
PROHIBIT 45
STAR WITNESS 28
BATED BREATH 24
MONSIEUR CHEVALIER 24

CARTIER STAYER
FAME AND GLORY 48
BRIGANTIN 29
OPINION POLL 27
BLUE BAJAN 24

Past winners at the Cartier Racing Awards

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