Big Orange came up a couple of lengths short here on Tuesday in his attempt to win the Goodwood Cup for the third year running, but time may show that it took a Classic winner with 13lb less in his saddle to frustrate him. Michael Bell’s magnificent six-year-old could not respond as Stradivarius surged past inside the final quarter-mile, and the winner is now a 5-1 chance for next month’s St Leger at Doncaster. Big Orange saw off all the older horses in the field in his familiar, front-running style. The two three-year-olds in the line-up, though, finished first and third as Stradivarius made the most of the weight concession to take the first running of the Goodwood Cup as a Group One event. Goodwood
Amos Youth Jersey on course to take York’s place in Flat hierarchy Read more Andrea Atzeni, who rode a 8,346-1 four-timer on the day, rode a confident race on the 6-1 chance, sitting several lengths off the pace as Frankie Dettori enjoyed an uncontested lead on Big Orange. Stradivarius made ground steadily and then stayed on with purpose as Big Orange briefly threatened to make a fight of it, crossing the line a length-and-three-quarters in front. Stradivarius is the first three-year-old to win this race since 1990 and is now alongside Capri, Aidan O’Brien’s Irish Derby winner, at the head of the Leger betting. Dettori, the stable jockey to John Gosden, the winner’s trainer, can expect to take over from Atzeni at Doncaster for a race that Gosden has already won four times in the past. “Frankie’s controlled the race but our fellow stayed it out well, I knew he’d get the trip and Andrea was very confident,” Gosden said. “Full marks to Peter Shoemark, our racing office manager, as he was the one who suggested this entry. I thought he was mad, but then I thought that he would have to give weight with a Group Two penalty [for winning the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot] in the Voltigeur [at York], and give weight in handicaps. It was right to come here, and this is Peter’s victory, not mine. “Big Orange has got a big heart and he’s run with it again but he’s run into a three-year-old now rather than the older horses.” Advertisement Bell said that he was “very proud with how Big Orange ran, adding: “He laid it down there, looked like winning and then the three-year-old came
http://www.officialnikejetshop.com/dion-bailey-jersey-for-sale-c-35.html and got him. He’s run his heart out on ground that’s softer than ideal. “We wanted to make history [with a third successive win] and the horse is so well in himself. He has basically done everything but win, and he was beaten by an unexposed three-year-old who won well at Royal Ascot. Let’s meet him on level weights next year and see what happens.” Atzeni, who completed an outstanding day with victory in the final race on Shenanigans, enjoyed a clean sweep in the card’s three Pattern events, with Stradivarius’s success adding to earlier wins aboard the 50-1 chance Breton Rock, who came from last to first down the middle of the track in the Group Two Lennox Stakes, and a hugely impressive victory aboard Sir Michael Stoute’s Expert Eye in the Group Two Vintage Stakes. Expert Eye is the new favourite for next year’s 2,000 Guineas after making an effortless step up from novice company to win here by four-and-a-half lengths. This was the best performance by a juvenile in Europe this season by some way, and memorable in particular for the ease with which Expert Eye moved through the field before being sent for home well over two furlongs out. He quickened into a decisive lead before the furlong pole and had been cut to as short as 4-1 for next year’s Newmarket Classic by the
http://www.authenticchicagoblackhawks.com/authentic-michael-jordan-jersey?gender=Youth time he returned to the winner’s enclosure. Stoute was typically reluctant to commit the colt to a definite target but is confident that he will see out a mile next year, a view that is shared by Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Prince Khalid Abdullah, the colt’s owner. “The family has got plenty of speed but I would think he ought to be up to a mile on that performance and in good time,” Grimthorpe said. “He is in the [Group Two] Champagne Stakes [at Doncaster in September] and that looks like a possibility, and then all being well he will go on to smarter things, the [Group One] Dewhurst Stakes if we are lucky enough.” Dark Red and Fabricate ensured the meeting kicked off in controversial fashion when the latter was awarded the Matchbook Betting Exchange Handicap in the stewards’ room, with the deliberations relayed live in dramatic fashion to ITV Racing viewers. Ed Dunlop’s Dark Red crossed the line in front, having seen off the Michael Bell-trained Fabricate, owned by the Queen, in a tight finish. But
Michal Rozsival Authentic Jersey Dark Red drifted markedly to his left under Oisin Murphy, knocking into Fabricate, who in turn nudged the third, Khairaat. After a long inquiry the placings were reversed and Murphy was hit with an eight-day ban
