CIRCUS MAXIMUS EDGES TEREBELLUM IN THRILLING QUEEN ANNE STAKES, AT ROYAL ASCOT AND GAINS FREE BERTH INTO TVG BREEDERS’ CUP MILE
ASCOT, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND (June 16, 2020) – Flaxman Holdings, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith’s 4-year-old colt Circus Maximus (IRE) rallied strongly to repel the filly Terebellum (IRE) Tuesday to capture the US$317,000 Queen Anne Stakes (G1) on the opening day of Royal Ascot. With this victory, Circus Maximus earned an automatic berth into the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) through the international Breeders’ Cup Challenge.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which is scheduled to be held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, on Nov. 6-7.
As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders’ Cup will pay the entry fees for Circus Maximus to start in the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile, which will be run at 1 mile over the Keeneland turf course. Breeders’ Cup also will provide a minimum travel allowance of US$40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships.
Circus Maximus, who finished fourth in the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita last year, boasted winning form at Royal Ascot having captured the St James’s Palace Stakes (G1) 12 months ago.
On his first start since he ran in California, Circus Maximus was prominent throughout the race as the field tacked over to the grandstand side of Ascot’s straight mile. He was taken into the lead by Ryan Moore approaching the final furlong but was quickly joined by Terebellum, under Frankie Dettori, who went half a length up. But the blinkered Circus Maximus fought back doggedly to first draw level and then get a head in front on the line.
Marie’s Diamond (IRE) took third, another 3 ¼ lengths behind the winner.
Circus Maximus, bred by Flaxman Stables Ireland, completed the mile in 1:40.05 over a course listed as good to soft as the 4-1 favorite.
Flaxman Holdings and the Niarchos Family have won the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) six times, with Miesque (twice), Spinning World, Domedriver (IRE), Six Perfections (FR) and Karakontie (JPN).
Winning jockey Moore, said: “He won the St James’s Palace Stakes last year and the Prix du Moulin (G1) at Longchamp. He’s been a really good horse and this is his third Group 1. They had their chance to come and beat him but he just put his head down, battled away and fought all the way to the line.”
For the first time in the meeting’s history, Royal Ascot is being staged without spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic. Unable to travel from Ireland due to the restrictions, winning trainer Aidan O’Brien watched the action from home in Ballydoyle, County Tipperary.
“That’s Circus Maximus exactly, he is very tough, he travels with a lot of speed, he quickens and then toughs it out,” said O’Brien. “Ryan gave him a brilliant ride.”
O’Brien is using three separate teams of staff to ship his horses to the meeting, one to take them to the airport, another to accompany them on the plane and a third to collect them at the other end.
“Circus Maximus is a very good horse. He has pace, tough and brave, a trademark Galileo with loads of speed. I think he is probably underestimated. A mile is his best trip which makes him more valuable, interesting and important. He loves getting eyeballed.
“He wears the blinkers because he is lazy and it’s only when the tempo is strong like it was that he really focuses. At a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half, the tempo is not strong enough for him and you can’t get him to focus. A mile is what he is very comfortable at and I would imagine that is what he will stay at. Like a fighter, if you don’t get his blood up he doesn’t really bother.”
O’Brien said Circus Maximus is now likely to contest the Qatar Sussex Stakes (G1), another ‘Win & You’re In’ race for the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile, run at Goodwood on July 29.
“That’s the race for him,” he added. “He’s very comfortable racing around a bend as well.”
Godolphin’s Terebellum was race fit having won the Dahlia Stakes (G2) 10 days earlier but would have preferred a stronger gallop, according to trainer John Gosden.
“They didn’t go any pace which probably played against her as she gets a mile and a quarter,” said Gosden. “She hit the front and the other one just came back on the run to the line under a rousing ride.”
Circus Maximus becomes the fourth horse this year to earn a “Win and You’re In” for the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile. In January, Kantor, Blank, Sarkis & Yutar’s 4-year-old gelding Vardy (SAF) won the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate (G1) at Kenilworth Racecourse in South Africa to gain the first berth in the division. Peter M. Brant’s 5-year-old Raging Bull (FR) captured the Shoemaker Mile (G1) at Santa Anita Park in California on May 25, and on June 7, Sunday Racing Co.’s 4-year-old filly Gran Alegria earned the third automatic starting position into the Mile by taking the Yasuda Kinen (G1) at Tokyo Racecourse. (fonte : Breeders’ Cup)
Galileo’s Circus Maximus Gets Ballydoyle Off the Mark At Royal Ascot
Circus Maximus wins the Queen Anne before an empty Royal Enclosure | Racing Post
Royal Ascot’s week-long Ryan Moore-Frankie Dettori battle was underway in some style early on Tuesday, with the former prevailing in a thrilling tussle on the 4-1 favourite Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Queen Anne S., a “Win and You’re In” for the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland in November. Sent straight to the fore, last year’s G1 St James’s Palace S. and G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp hero was passed and apparently beaten by Terebellum (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) as Frankie took charge 1 1/2 furlongs out. As he proved on more than one occasion last term, Circus Maximus is never happier than when engaged and his rally was strong enough to get the better of the filly in the shade of the post. Just a head separated the pair at the line, with the forwardly-ridden Marie’s Diamond (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) three lengths away in third as the closers failed to make an impact. “He’s a very straightforward horse and they had their chance to come and beat him,” Moore commented after signalling instant intent to regain the jockeys’ title he surrendered to Dettori 12 months ago. “He fought all the way to the line and just a really good horse.”
Providing Aidan O’Brien with a 71st Royal winner, Circus Maximus is from the mould of a Giant’s Causeway or Rock of Gibraltar (Ire), a familiar tough and hardy campaigner who thrives on the Ballydoyle routine. Considered a middle-distance prospect following his juvenile season which saw him finish third in the G3 Autumn S. and fourth in the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy, the bay did nothing to dissuade that view with a game return win in the 10-furlong Listed Dee S. at Chester last May. Sixth in the G1 Epsom Derby, he surprised when successfully making the quick and drastic reversion to a mile which Marju (Ire) and Dawn Approach (Ire) had done in the past to garner the St James’s Palace on similarly rain-eased ground.
Second to Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) as that rival gained revenge following their prior encounter at the Royal meeting in the G1 Sussex S. at Goodwood at the end of July, the Niarchos colour-bearer was seventh but not disgraced in the G1 Juddmonte International back up in trip the following month. Reverting to a mile again for the Prix du Moulin, he was allowed to keep that race despite some controversy as he made contact with the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois hero Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) in another tight battle. Sent to Santa Anita afterwards, he was racing outside of his comfort zone in the sharp test of the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile on fast ground, bit showed his usual tenacity to be fourth.
Sent forward here as he had been on the round course 12 months ago, Circus Maximus found a lead from the stand’s-rail runner Marie’s Diamond and was only beginning to work up to his top rhythm at the two-furlong marker while Terebellum arrived swinging to his right. Frankie’s mount had a distinct edge soon after and looked to have left him behind, but as the line neared she failed to put significant distance between them which only served to spur on the Ballydoyle raider. Fully motivated, he managed to find the line in time, an artform that his trainer’s first Royal Ascot group 1 winner Giant’s Causeway first demonstrated almost exactly 20 years to the day in the St James’s Palace.
This win puts Circus Maximus in elite territory as only the third St James’s Palace winner in recent times to return and take this prize after Canford Cliffs (Ire) and Frankel (GB). Aidan O’Brien, who was on 71 Royal winners afer this, said, “We were delighted with that performance. Circus Maximus is very tough, he travels with a lot of speed, then quickens and toughs it out. It was unbelievable, really. Ryan gave him an unbelievable ride and we are delighted.”
“Royal Ascot is usually a very busy week for us as we go back and forth, so it is brilliant to be able to see all the preliminaries,” added the Ballydoyle handler from his home. “It is great for us and we get to see a lot of stuff that we otherwise wouldn’t. We have got a great team of people to do everything when we are not there and we couldn’t be happier really. Pat Keating and the lads bring them to the races and the lads fly them over, so it’s a great team of people and they are all working together. We are so lucky to have so many special people really.”
“Circus Maximus is a trademark Galileo. I think he has probably been a bit underestimated. He is a very solid horse and all his best form has been over a mile and that makes him all the more valuable and interesting. He travels very strongly and then loves getting eyeballed. The problem is he is lazy and that is why he wears blinkers. It is only when the tempo is really high that he actually races, so I think a mile-and-a-quarter and mile-and-a-half trips don’t allow him to focus. The pace of the mile races allows him to get his blood up.” A return to Goodwood is on the cards now. “I would say the Sussex Stakes is the race for him. He is very comfortable racing around a bend.”
John Gosden’s decision to run Terebellum over a mile paid off and the runner-up emerges with real credit, especially as she was free in the early stages. “She ran a great race. They didn’t go any pace which probably played against her, as she gets a mile and a quarter,” he said. “She hit the front and the other one just came back on the run to the line under a rousing ride.”
Pedigree Notes
Circus Maximus is unfortunately the only known foal out of Duntle (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), who took the G2 Duke of Cambridge S. and Listed Sandringham H. over this straight mile at this meeting before being denied her group 1 win in the 2012 Matron S. by the stewards. Also successful in the G3 Desmond S., G3 Amethyst S., runner-up in the G1 Prix Rothschild and third in the G1 Sun Chariot S., the Airlie Stud-bred chestnut was a rare commodity and an inspired purchase by the Niarchos Family.
Duntle’s dam Lady Angola (Lord At War {Arg}) hails from the family of two other top-level winners by that sire in the Turf Classic hero Honor In War and Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup winner La Gueriere, as well as the GI John Henry H. and GII Eddie Read H. hero Al Mamoon (Believe It). The latter is in turn responsible for the GI Personal Ensign S. winner Icon Project (Empire Maker) and the multiple graded-stakes scorer and GI Hollywood Derby runner-up Lasting Approval (With Approval). The fourth dam Lady Winborne (Secretariat) is a half-sister to Allez France (Sea-Bird {Fr}), France’s legendary Horse of the Year and multiple champion.
Tuesday, Royal Ascot, Britain
QUEEN ANNE S.-G1, £250,000, Ascot, 6-16, 4yo/up, 8fT, 1:40.05, g/s.
1–CIRCUS MAXIMUS (IRE), 126, c, 4, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Duntle (Ire) (MGSW & G1SP-Ire, GSW & G1SP-Eng & G1SP-Fr, $458,532), by Danehill Dancer (Ire)
2nd Dam: Lady Angola, by Lord At War (Arg)
3rd Dam: Benguela, by Little Current
O-Flaxman Stables, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-Flaxman Stables Ireland Ltd (IRE); T-Aidan O’Brien; J-Ryan Moore. £148,000. Lifetime Record: Hwt. 3yo-Fr at 7-9.5f & G1SW-Fr, 12-5-1-1, $1,347,364. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Diamond*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Terebellum (Ire), 123, f, 4, Sea the Stars (Ire)–Marvada (Ire), by Elusive City. (€400,000 Ylg ’17 ARAUG). O-Godolphin; B-Alan O’Flynn (IRE); T-John Gosden. £55,975.
3–Marie’s Diamond (Ire), 126, c, 4, Footstepsinthesand (GB)–Sindiyma (Ire), by Kalanisi (Ire). (€35,000 Ylg ’17 TIRSEP; £675,000 RNA 2yo ’18 GOFGW). O-Middleham Park Racing LXXXVI; B-Tony Ashley (IRE); T-Mark Johnston. £27,975.
Margins: HD, 3, HD. Odds: 4.00, 5.00, 40.00.
Also Ran: Roseman (Ire), Accidental Agent (GB), Space Traveller (GB), Mohaather (GB), Skardu (GB), Billesdon Brook (GB), Fox Chairman (Ire), Mustashry (GB), Escobar (Ire), Duke of Hazzard (Fr), Plumatic (GB), Turjomaan. Scratched: Bless Him (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
fonte : TDN
