22 October 2017

Order! Order!

This 2016 Gold Cup winner only managed fourth in last year's Long Distance Cup and as the thirteen-strong field turned into the straight it looked as though history would repeat itself. The Aidan O'Brien-trained Order of St. George certainly seemed outpaced by both Torcedor and Mount Moriah but suddenly, somewhat uncharacteristically, just as Torcedor seemed to have it in the bag, the five-year-old Galileo progeny dug deep into his reserves and surged to the front 75 yards from home and landed the £263, 000 prize by half a length.

On a Par

The Ballydoyle king is now on a par with the legendary American trainer Bobby Frankel, after whom the equally famous stallion, Frankel, was named. The record was set in 2003 with Aidan O'Brien twice getting close, trainung 23 winners in 2001 and 2008. Yesterday he notched up twenty-five Grade 1 victories in a season, when Ryan Moore partnered Hydrangea to a two-length victory in the Fillies and Mares Stakes. The forty-eight-year-old trainer was denied the record for the time being, however, as the the other three Group Ones eluded him: Caravaggio could only manage third in the British Champions Sprint Stakes; Churchill the same in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and, would you believe it, Highland Reel was also third in the Champion Stakes. The County Wexford-born handler had a chance earlier on in the day to equal the record but his Johannes Vermeer finished (again!) third in Australia's Group One Caulfield Cup. Aidan O'Brien still has a chance to claim the record next weekend when he has Group One contenders at Doncaster and Saint-Cloud.

All what he's Cracked up to be!

One trainer who denied Aidan O'Brien a Group One victory at Ascot yesterday was John Gosden when Cracksman claimed the QIPCO Champion Stakes by seven lengths in a display of sheer brilliance. The Newmarket handler had already, perhaps surprisingly, decided that the Frankel colt would not compete against his stable companion, Enable, in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe the other week. As it happened the decision was a good one. The three-year-old routed a high-class field to vie with his sire, who won the race in 2012. There were a few who doubted whether Cracksman had the necessary speed when switching back to a mile and a quarter as his last four starts had been two furlongs further. The 13/8 favourite, however, proved he had the stamina and easily went clear when asked as the field entered the the home straight.