Landmark win for big-spending owners Phoenix as Advertise returns to his best
Phoenix Thoroughbred enjoyed a landmark result in the Ascot sunshine as the free-spending owners landed a remarkable one-two in the Commonwealth Cup.
While last year’s Group 1 Phoenix Stakes winner Advertise took his top-flight tally to two in Phoenix’s now familiar white and orange silks, runner-up Forever In Dreams carried the predominantly orange colours of the Phoenix Ladies, an all-female ownership group run under the same umbrella.
Victory, achieved under man-of-the-moment Frankie Dettori, came almost a year to the day that Phoenix chief executive Amer Abdulaziz revealed the full scale of his grand plans for the investment fund to rub shoulders with the bloodstock giants who dominate the sport following Signora Cabello’s Queen Mary success.
Fast-forward 12 months, and the Dubai-based businessman was back in the identical spot with an identical smile on his face, after scaling the heights of a Royal Ascot Group 1 less than three years after Phoenix Thoroughbreds launched.
“That’s just the way we like it,” said Abdulaziz. “What a beautiful day – it could not have gone better. We knew the horse was doing great and working well and to have him here today and win like that is amazing.
“The ladies gave me a fright but whoever finished first and second doesn’t matter – I’m just happy for the brand. There’s about 15 of the investors here and they were all shouting and jumping and it gives us a huge boost.”
Widespread bloodstock acquisitions across the globe have followed a big-spending start at the sales in 2017 and Phoenix’s plans remain as grand as ever according to Abdulaziz, who revelled in another significant milestone.
“We wanted to comeback this year and repeat what we did last year,” he added. “It’s very important and this is another step forward, we’re now a global company – South America, Australia, Europe and America – and it’s going from big to bigger all the time.”
“When you win at Royal Ascot there’s nothing like it – much better than any Derby in the World. Advertise is a Group 1 winner in the past, he’s a beautiful horse and no doubt he’s a future stallion for Phoenix – that’s the plan.
“We’ve got some stallions in America but he will be the second one here in Europe.”
For winning trainer Martyn Meade there was as much relief as elation following a testing period during which the horses at his base in Manton had failed to show their true colours through the first part of the season.
He even shut down the yard earlier in the spring to aid their recovery but Advertise – one of the star juveniles of last season – emphatically proved the stable to be back on track.
“There’s obviously huge elation but certainly relief as well as the horses have been well under par,” said Meade.
“He’s only had one bad run in the Guineas and I’ve always believed in him. He was not right at Newmarket – we wanted to see if he got the mile but never found out that day and we decided to go back to what we know over six, where we knew he was so good last year.
“We might go to France for the Prix Maurice de Gheest over six and a half furlongs next. Maybe he would get a mile but we’ll take baby steps and keep him around six furlongs for the time being.”
Following Thursday’s heroics with four winners, Dettori was back in familiar territory in the centre of a bustling huddle after the race, and he was suitably impressed with his seventh win of the meeting.
“He put up a tremendous performance,” said Dettori. “I was always in control and always travelled like the winner. When I kicked he just went and was back to his best.”
Runner-up Forever In Dreams provided her owners with a slice of their investment having sold for £430,000 at the Goffs London Sale earlier in the week.
“It was a brilliant run, absolutely unbelievable,” said her trainer Aidan Fogarty. “She was bought on Monday evening by Phoenix Ladies, so it was a good result for those two with Phoenix winning.”
Watch Me looks good for France as she repels Hermosa in Coronation
When Francis Graffard says “this is incredible”, he really means it.
This time last week he had trained two Group 1 winners in a promising eight-year career. Now he has trained four as his talented Watch Me made everyone do just that by blowing apart the Coronation Stakes just five days after Channel, also ridden by Pierre-Charles Boudot, clung on by a head in the Prix de Diane.
As the field turned into the straight all eyes were on the dual 1,000 Guineas winner Hermosa. She hit the front two furlongs out under Ryan Moore and looked set to join Attraction and Winter this century in completing the trinity of early season Group 1s for Classic fillies.
Her name may shout Watch Me but the process of wresting the collective gaze from Hermosa was more gradual. Slowly the crowd became more and more aware that Moore’s level of animation was in stark contrast to Boudot’s relative stillness.
The writing was on the wall and the second Moore got more animated with about a furlong and a half to run, even-money favourite Hermosa was consigned to joining Finsceal Beo in coming up short in her treble bid, as she was unable to stop Watch Me powering a length and a half clear for an emphatic success.
It is impossible to describe how much this meant to Graffard without explaining two things. Firstly, he worked in British racing for six years – most notably with Darley - and developed an ambition to have runners at meetings such as Royal Ascot. Secondly, Watch Me’s last start in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches hurt. He fully expected to be coming here already a Group 1 winner, rather than as a 20-1 shot.
“We were 20-1, which was good for me with the owner because we can say look, enjoy yourself there’s no pressure, we’re an outsider, if we are third it’s a fantastic result,” explained Graffard.
“She travelled really nicely and I shouted a lot. She took the lead quite early and never stopped. After Longchamp, Olivier Peslier said run in the Diane, she’ll stay and she’ll win, but after bad luck in the race I didn’t want to change everything so we came to Ascot.
“Four weeks ago in France I thought it was our day and I was very upset as you don’t get many chances to run in a Group 1 with a big chance, and everything went wrong. That’s the hard part of being a trainer. Then you get this week. I won the Prix de Diane on Sunday and here we are.”
They did not come quietly as a tricolour-waving contingent ensured a raucous return, and a delighted Graffard added: “I worked six years in England, so I always said to myself I need to come here and win a big race. I’ve tried before but today is just amazing. I love this filly, I always thought she was very good and it’s incredible.
“I was a racing representative for Sheikh Mohammed and Darley for three or four seasons, this is just my eighth season as a trainer. We’ve had some nice winners but this one is very special.”
For Graffard it was a first Royal Ascot winner but for Boudot it was a second after guiding Le Brivido to glory in the Jersey Stakes last year.
He said: “The race was perfect for her, she was unlucky in the Poule d’Essai. I was able to get behind Hermosa and when I asked her, she gave me a nice turn of foot. She did it very easy today. She has a big heart and is very courageous. I think she is very good quite simply.
“This is a big day for me also – it’s a first Group 1 at Royal Ascot and it’s very important for my career. It’s been a very nice week.”
On Hermosa, who finished a length clear of third-placed Jubiloso, Aidan O’Brien said: “She ran a very good race and Ryan said she ran very well. We’re not using any excuses and we’ll make a decision [whether to stay over a mile] when we get her back. We’ll decide in a week or ten days. Her sister [Hydrangea] got a mile and a half.”
Imperious Japan beats Bangkok to give Aidan O’Brien a 70th royal winner
Allow yourself to imagine what might have been if Japan had not suffered a setback in the spring. Scary, isn’t it?
Aidan O’Brien has never made any secret of the fact that the strapping son of Galileo missed an important week of work while preparing for the Derby which put him firmly on the back foot.
Not much was expected in the Dante and he duly delivered the performance anticipated. Better was expected in the Derby and he exceeded expectations to take third. Big things were expected here and boy did he live up to his pre-race billing. Japan, it seems, has the world at his feet.
Ryan Moore rode the son of Galileo as though he was not just the best horse in the race, but the best horse in the race by a considerable margin. How right he was. This was arguably the performance of the week and Paddy Power immediately slashed him into 7-4 favourite for the St Leger.
Moore admitted as much afterwards, saying: ”This is a high-class colt. He’s very good and he put them to bed very easily there.
“He was the best horse, it was just keeping it simple really. He could be more than a Leger horse, he’s a good horse. He will be a very effective over a mile and a half.”
Japan might well be very effective over a mile and a half and the temptation must be there for O’Brien to have a crack at the Arc later in the year. He is priced between 12-1 and 16-1 for Europe’s richest race.
It was fitting that such a ferocious colt should provide O’Brien with his 70th royal winner and he was keen to stress how good this year’s Derby was afterwards.
“The Derby was a very good race, I don’t think anyone realised what a good race it was – we can see what happened to Circus Maximus earlier in the week. They were all there together – it was a very high-class race,” said O’Brien, who was celebrating his fifth winner of the week.
The trainer continued: “This is a very smart horse and he is coming forward lovely all the time, we couldn’t be happier. He had a lovely run in the Dante, and he was just ready to go again, and came forward for the Derby.
“Wayne was delighted with him in the Derby, Wayne rides him in all his work. Everything has been right with him all the time and progressing all the time.”
Japan went the scenic route, while Bangkok cut every corner but it made no difference as he could not live with the favourite. Andrew Balding took the defeat on the chin and turned his attention to America.
“There were no excuses and he’s had a charmed run through. He looked like a classy horse today and was just beaten by a good one. We’ll look at all our options and he might be a horse we look at for the American turf races – they’ve a new series of races there that might suit,” Balding said.
Eagles By Day, a 25-1 outsider, outran those odds by finishing third and Michael Bell was understandably pleased with the display.
Bell said: “He ran a very good race. Danny [Tudhope] felt he was a completely different horse to the one who ran at Lingfield. He’s a lovely stayer in the making and the Bahrain Trophy is a possibility.”
This was all about Japan and the remainder of the season could be about Japan too. The potential is frightening.
Daahyeh gives David Egan a first Royal Ascot success in the Albany
Birthday presents do not come much better than your first Royal Ascot winner.
David Egan turned 20 on Wednesday. Victory aboard Daahyeh in the Albany may have come two days late, but it was certainly worth waiting for.
The promising young rider fought his emotions as he said: “It’s a big step in my career and I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped me get to this point, I’m actually a bit emotional. It’s what I’ve worked hard for my whole life and it’s great to have these big days.”
Egan’s boss Roger Varian, who let him keep the ride when stable jockey Andrea Atzeni was required to ride Galadriel for his retained owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, joked he was too old for presents but gave him one anyway – in the form of a favourite’s chance at the royal meeting.
It is a meeting at which his father John, who was riding at Newmarket on Friday, has been successful four times. His uncle Richard Hughes was synonymous with the meeting as a rider, and after watching Egan glide through proceedings and put the race to bed it is difficult to think such a wonderful young talent will not have more moments like it.
A year’s worth of toil went into claiming the apprentice title in 2017, but it took little more than a minute on Daahyeh’s back for it to be replaced in the young rider’s mind as his crowning achievement. “I think this could be at the top,” he said, before adding “for now” in a manner that let you know in no uncertain terms he was not joking.
“I felt the pressure before the race, but once I was on her it was like another race,” he said of the occasion. “I’d like to thank the owners and Mr Varian for the opportunities on the big stages. She had to battle inside the final furlong, but when I switched my whip she picked up again and hit the line strong, she’s a very nice filly.”
A very nice filly she may be, and she was ridden by a very nice jockey who wanted to pay special thanks to his father. “I always wanted to follow his footsteps and he’s been huge for my career, so I’d just like to thank him for everything he’s done.
“I live with him, if it’s Royal Ascot or a ride around Southwell he looks at my races afterwards and gives me criticism, he’s taught me everything I know. We have our ups and downs sometimes, but he loves me and it’s advice so I take it all on board.
“I’m sure he has as good a buzz as I got out of it. He’s ridden plenty of Royal Ascot winners and I hope to do as well as he did, you walk into the weighing room and his picture’s all over the wall, Snoqualmie Boy and the likes, I was six or seven when he was doing that.”
Varian may not look like he would have been much older, but he has firmly established himself at the top of the training ranks and this was his second Albany.
On his young jockey he added: “David’s been riding well for a couple of years, has a good head on his shoulders, and knows the filly as he won on her first time.
“Andrea might have ridden her but had to ride for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, so David will get a few opportunities as we go through the summer. He took his chance today and gave her a lovely ride, I couldn’t ask for more from him.”
fonte : RacingPost
