Goodwood Racecourse

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Yeats So Dominant In ABN Amro Goodwood Cup
04/08/06

Yeats, from Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle Stables in Ireland, took another step towards becoming the king of the stayers for 2006 when setting a course record in the ABN Amro Goodwood Cup. His time of 3m 21.55s was .08 of a second inside that achieved by Jardine’s Lookout in 2002.

The five-year-old, who won the Ascot Gold Cup in June, beat Geordieland and Tungsten Strike by five lengths and three and a half lengths, after which O’Brien said: “You saw what he did at Ascot, but this is a different track and Mick [Kinane] hadn’t ridden him since he was two so you have to take those things into consideration.

“Mick was mighty impressed with him. He’s a Coronation Cup winner and a Derrinstown Stud [Derby Trial] winner at three so he’s not short of class. It’s a real excitement to get a horse like this and great to compete in these type of races. Mr and Mrs Magnier and Mr and Mrs Nagle decided to go this route and it’s a privilege to have a horse like him.

“We hope to go to the Irish St Leger next and take one race at a time. He’s entered for Melbourne. That’s a likelihood, but he might get an unrealistic weight and we’d love for this fellow to stay around for the next couple of years. Putting a ton on his back when we hope to keep him in training might not be fair.”

Kinane, who was number one jockey at Ballydoyle from 1999 to 2003 when he joined John Oxx, is now filling in on a number of the O’Brien’s runners in Britain while Kieren Fallon is banned from riding in the country. Kinane was asked about a Melbourne Cup challenge and said: “The ground would be the main concern. One year in five you get easy ground, and four out of five you’ll get firm ground. He’s a very classy individual and probably the best stayer I’ve ridden.”

Yeats is a 10-1 chance for the Melbourne Cup with William Hill and Paddy Power.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained Yeats, the most impressive winner of Ascot's Gold Cup in recent years, heads a maximum 16-strong field declared today for Thursday's ABN Amro Goodwood Cup.

Michael Kinane will ride the five-year-old whose opponents include the Ascot runner-up Reefscape, fourth-placed High Action, the fifth Sergeant Cecil, Tungsten Strike, who came eighth and Winged D'Argent, a distant ninth that day.

Baddam racked up two successes at the Royal Meeting - winning the Ascot Stakes by five lengths and the 2m 6f Queen Alexandra Stakes by a neck from Cover Up, another ABN Amro Goodwood Cup contender.

The 11-year-old Alcazar is the old man of the field but was beaten by less than four lengths on his only run this year in the Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at Longchamp on May 21.

The Sir Mark Prescott-trained Foreign Affairs is better than ever at the age of eight and has made successful forays to Ireland on his last two starts.

No trainer has a better record in this race than Mark Johnston, who has been successful five times in the last 11 runnings. He is represented by Golden Quest, who has not run since finishing second in last year's race, and Winged D'Argent, who most recently came third to Land N Stars in a Sandown Listed event over two miles and a half furlong when Sergeant Cecil was second.

Rod Millman, Sergeant Cecil's trainer, reported: "We haven't had much luck with him this year - he's at his best in a strongly run race and we haven't really had that apart from in the Ascot Gold Cup, where he got a bit roughed up.

"He didn't stay the two and half miles against Yeats but then nothing really did. The winner made them all look very average. I'd fancy my chances against Reefscape but I'm not sure about turning the form round with Yeats

"Sergeant Cecil has won £40,000 this year without winning so I'm not disappointed with him - I wish all my horses did that! This year was always going to be hard and he could do with an easy race, but you're not going to get that in Cup races.

"It looks a competitive race but he handles the track and likes anything but really soft ground. He's every bit as well as he was going into the Gold Cup."

Balkan Knight finished second to Linas Selection in a York Listed handicap last time out while Bulwark, winner of a Haydock handicap in June, and Queen Alexandra Stakes fourth Ebtikaar respectively represent the local stables of Amanda Perrett and John Dunlop.

The field is completed by Geordieland, who is having his first start for trainer Jamie Osborne, having finished fourth to Policy Maker in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly on June 10.