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Scorpion Gives Dettori Tenth Classic
10/09/05

Frankie Dettori bagged his 10th British classic after landing the Ladbrokes St Leger with a pillar-to-post success aboard the Aidan O’Brien-trained Scorpion.

“It’s my tenth British classic so this day is quite a milestone in my career. It’s a special day for me,” said Dettori. “I’ve got to say thank you to my boss and thanks to Coolmore for letting me have the ride.

“I have mixed emotions because when I’ve won this race before it has been for Sheikh Mohammed and Godolphin so it feels a bit peculiar to win it for the main opposition. But hopefully I’ll be back next year winning it for Godolphin.

“It was hard to judge the pace on this ground - it’s very deep out there - and I think he would be better on good ground, he has a great stride. I could have done with a bit of company.

“I felt that if something had come at him he would have pulled out a bit more. Like a true champion, he dug deep and won for me today - he was a worthy favourite. In the final furlong he jinked slightly when I grabbed him to say ‘come and win’ and he just lost his foot for a moment. He has done well to keep up the gallop.

”I felt a horse there inside the final \furlong but I knew my horse would keep the gallop up. It my mind it was always the plan to make all - Aidan left it entirely up to me.”

Dettori decided to take this mount instead of Vodafone Derby winner Motivator in the Irish Champion Stakes and explained: “On Tuesday it looked unlikely that Motivator was going to run and I wanted to be guaranteed a good ride for today so my agent rang up about Scorpion and they wanted a definite decision.”

FRANKIE DETTORI’S BRITISH CLASSIC WINS
Ladbrokes St Leger (1995 Classic Cliche, 1996 Shantou, 2005 Scorpion)
Vodafone Oaks (1994 Balanchine, 1995 Moonshell, 2002 Kazzia)
2000 Guineas (1996 Mark of Esteem, 1999 Island Sands)
1000 Guineas (1998 Cape Verdi, 2002 Kazzia)

3.20pm THE 2005 LADBROKES ST LEGER STAKES

Class 1, Group 1, £450,000 guaranteed. For 3yo entire colts & filles, 1m 6f 132yds. Weights: colts 9st; fillies 8st 11lb. Penalty Values: 1st: £261,000; 2nd: £99,000; 3rd: £49,500; 4th: £22,500; 5th: £11,250; 6th: £6,750

1) SCORPION (Sue Magnier & Michael Tabor) Aidan O'Brien IRE 3-9-00 Frankie Dettori [2] 10/11 Fav
2) THE GEEZER (Jeff Smith) David Elsworth 3-9-00 Richard Quinn [1] 7/2
3) TAWQEET (Hamdan Al Maktoum) John Dunlop v3-9-00 Richard Hills [3] 11/1
4) KONG (Neil Jones) John Dunlop 3-9-00 Richard Hughes [6]
5) HARD TOP (Ballymacoll Stud) Sir Michael Stoute 3-9-00 Ryan Moore [5]
6) HATTAN (Saeed Manana) Clive Brittain 3-9-00 Alan Munro [7]

6 ran Non-Runner: Avalon (Going)
Time: 3 min 19.01 sec Distances: 1, 5, 3 1/2, 2, 18
Breeder: Grangemore Stud Breeding: b c Montjeu (IRE) - Ardmelody (Law Society)
Tote Win: £1.80 Places: £1.30; £1.80 Exacta: £4.70