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| Royal Ascot News 2004 |
Godolphin and Frankie dominate Royal Ascot
Godolphin dominated Royal Ascot with six victories, and
crowned a glorious meeting with Doyen’s runaway
triumph in the Hardwicke Stakes on Saturday.
Jag strikes gold at Ascot
Fayr Jag just held on in the shadow of the post to land the Golden Jubilee Stakes.
Attraction crowned Coronation queen
Attraction cemented her status as the best three-year-old filly in Europe
over a mile with victory in the Coronation Stakes.
Gold Cup glory for Papineau
Papineau came from off the pace to land the Gold Cup for the Godolphin team.
Rakti goes one better
Rakti, runner-up in the Prince of Wales's Stakes 12 months ago, went one better
in the Group One contest on Wednesday.
Bend blazes to Queen Anne victory
Last year's 2000 Guineas winner Refuse
To Bend returned to his best form with a dramatic victory in the Queen
Anne Stakes.
The Tatling takes the Stand
Darryll Holland brought The Tatling with a tremendous late run down the centre
of the course to lift the King's Stand Stakes.
Azamour the Palace jewel
Azamour made up for two Classic defeats with victory in the St James's Palace
Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Iceman freezes out Coventry rivals
Iceman put his rivals in the cold in the Coventry Stakes, the opening contest
at Royal Ascot.
Godolphin and Frankie dominate Royal Ascot
Godolphin dominated Royal Ascot with six victories and the Dubai
outfit crowned a glorious meeting when Doyen’s runaway triumph in
the Hardwicke Stakes on Saturday heralded the arrival of a potential superstar.
Wins for Refuse To Bend, Kheleyf, Punctilious, Papineau and Duke Of Venice
had already virtually clinched the top jockey trophy for Frankie Dettori
and the trainers’ title for Saeed Bin Suroor before Doyen put the
icing on a particularly rich cake.
Two of the victories were in Group One company, and though Doyen’s
course record-breaking success was at a lower level, it was nevertheless
the most significant for the future.
The boys in blue now have three top-class performers set for the midsummer
highlight, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot
next month.
Dettori will have to choose between Doyen, Sulamani and Papineau, and he
said: "It will be a very difficult choice, so I’ll wait until
a lot nearer the time.
" When I rode Doyen in the Arc (fourth) he was still a bit weak, but at
the back of my mind I thought he could be one of our stable stars.
"
What a performance – he just took my breath away. Smashing the track
record at Ascot isn’t done every day. He is a special horse."
The Sadler’s Wells colt certainly looked just that as he roared clear
to slam High Accolade by six lengths.
The Tatling takes the Stand
Darryll Holland brought The Tatling with a tremendous late run down the
centre of the course to lift the King's Stand Stakes.
The seven-year-old, who was giving trainer Milton Bradley his first Royal
Ascot winner, was held up in the five-furlong dash and when Holland switched
him from near the rails to the outside, he swept into the lead.
The Tatling (8-1) went on to beat Hong Kong raider Cape Of Good Hope
(13-2) by a length and a half, with 9-2 favourite Frizzante a neck away
in third.
"
We got him out of a claimer at Catterick," said Bradley. "The
owner was very keen to get him. We heard he had problems, but I've
never been a defeatist so we tried everything to get all his little things
right. He never had big things wrong.
" He's turned out magic for us - the best horse we've ever trained."
Holland said: "I just had to switch right and angle out to the
middle of the course, because you need a clear run if you're coming
from behind.
" I gave him a couple of cracks behind the girth to let him know where
he was and then he was in front. They went very, very quick and it
panned
out perfect."
Iceman freezes out Coventry rivals
Iceman put his rivals in the cold in
the Coventry Stakes, the opening contest at Royal Ascot.
The John Gosden-trained youngster, sent off the 5-1 joint-favourite,
came with a storming run under Kieren Fallon in the final furlong to
beat Council
Member, the other market leader.
Capable Guest (33-1) was third.
Fallon found himself with only a couple of horses behind him in the early
stages from what was not an ideal draw in stall 11.
But the champion jockey is not one to panic and he let the Polar Falcon
colt find his stride, and his mount picked up readily when the gaps appeared.
Council Member was up with the pace from the off under Frankie Dettori
and did nothing wrong in going down by half a length.
Capable Guest, who ran a blinder for a maiden, was a further one and
three-quarter lengths away.
