There was racing at Brighton on Tuesday, just as there was on 20 June 1977, when Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum took the train to the south coast to watch Hatta become the first horse to carry his colours to victory. Forty years later to the day, there were two more winners to add to the thousands that have followed since that trip to the coast, as his Godolphin operation registered a Group One double on the Royal meeting’s opening day and beat an odds-on favourite fielded by their fiercest rival.
This must have been one of the most satisfying afternoons in the Sheikh’s four decades as an owner, as first Ribchester, in the Queen Anne Stakes, and then Barney Roy, in the St James’s Palace Stakes, the day’s feature races, proved themselves to be milers of exceptional quality.
In recent weeks, Godolphin have been in turmoil and lost their chief executive, John Ferguson, this month after the trainer Saeed bin Suroor went public on a personality clash between the two men. After two Group One wins in the space of three hours, not to mention a one-two in the concluding Windsor Castle Stakes, the royal blue colours will move forward with much more confidence.
Both of Godolphin’s big winners on Tuesday are trained outside the operation’s two main yards in Newmarket, and Barney Roy’s success will have been particularly sweet for all concerned. Richard Hannon’s colt was a good second behind Churchill in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May, but there was a strong sense of unfinished business in the air afterwards. Everything, it seemed, had gone right for Churchill and gone awry for Barney Roy, and Hannon and James Doyle, Barney Roy’s jockey, were eager for another crack at the Classic winner.
Churchill, who had followed up his Guineas victory with success in the Irish equivalent in the meantime, was the hot favourite for the St James’s Palace Stakes at 1-2, but Barney Roy was a solid second-favourite at 5-2 and settled well in mid-division for Doyle in the early stages while Churchill and Ryan Moore sat another couple of lengths off his tail.
Churchill still had several lengths to find when Barney Roy moved towards the lead two furlongs out, and within a few strides, it was clear that the favourite would not close the gap. Barney Roy ran on strongly to overhaul Lancaster Bomber, a stable companion of Churchill at the Aidan O’Brien stable, by a length, with another Godolphin runner, Suroor’s Thunder Snow, back in third.
“We’ve had a lot of good milers, horses like Toronado, Toormore and Olympic Glory,” Hannon said, “and when they leave, you miss them. It’s nice to have that old feel back with a good horse like him, and it’s nice to do it for Sheikh Mohammed too. I was disappointed that he was just a bit inexperienced at Newmarket, and that cost him the race. It’s not so much revenge, it’s the fact that we thought he was a Group 1 winner in waiting and now he’s proved that. I’m not always right, but this is the one time in 10.”
Doyle, whose rides with Suroor dried up this year after the trainer made it clear that he preferred other jockeys, was celebrating his first Group One winner since July 2015 and enjoyed the moment immensely.
“I knew we could draw a line through the 2,000 Guineas as that race was a complete mess,” Doyle said. “We knew he had an engine and it was just about channelling that in the right direction. It has been an up-and-down season, but when I knew I [had] got the ride on this fella, I was pretty excited. I committed him off of the turn and he stuck at it really well. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it.”
Ribchester, who is trained in Yorkshire by Richard Fahey, was a warm favourite for the Queen Anne at 11-10, and despite drifting to his left inside the final quarter-mile, he stayed on strongly in the closing stages to beat Mutakayyef by a length-and-a-quarter.
“Hatta was my first horse and people were surprised when she beat the favourite at Brighton,” Sheikh Mohammed said after Ribchester’s success. “From that day we have moved forward and we are really enjoying it. In life, there is no winning post. You have to keep going otherwise the rest will catch up with you.”
The Sheikh preferred to concentrate on the present rather than look to the future with both horses, and did so perhaps with good reason. The £1m Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood would be an obvious target for one or both of Tuesday’s winners, but the race, and the Goodwood Festival itself, are both sponsored by Qatar, which is currently being blockaded by a Saudi-led coalition which includes the United Arab Emirates, of which Sheikh Mohammed is the vice-president, prime minister and the minister of defence.
Ribchester was installed as the favourite for the Sussex Stakes at around even money by most bookmakers, but Fahey also suggested the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville as a possible target. Hannon, meanwhile, said that he is keen to seen Barney Roy step up to a mile-and-a-quarter, and perhaps sooner rather than later, so he could even take on older horses next time out in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown on 8 July.
It could be significant or it may be nothing, but the Sheikh invited his wife to accept Ribchester’s prize, on a podium which carries the branding of the Qatari investment fund, Qipco, one of Ascot’s main partners. He then asked his son to pick up Barney Roy’s trophy. If the current diplomatic crisis in the Gulf persists, it could be odds-against either horse turning up at Goodwood.
Frankie Dettori’s shoulder, damaged in a fall at Yarmouth last week, has apparently been getting more and more sore since he rode in France on Sunday and the pain probably reached a peak at 3.41pm on Tuesday. That was the moment Lady Aurelia, one of his four booked mounts here, bolted up in the King’s Stand Stakes under Johnny Velazquez.
Dettori was presumably watching at home in Newmarket, having stood himself down first thing in the morning. “I’m gutted,” he tweeted above a statement explaining that his injury would need further assessment and that he would not be at Ascot this week. It was later reported that the normally effervescent Italian had a broken bone in his shoulder and will be unable to ride for at least a fortnight.
Meanwhile, the Puerto Rico-born Velazquez was making his way through Heathrow, entirely innocent of his good fortune, imagining his involvement at Ascot would be limited to Arawak and Nootka Sound, who were both eventually well beaten. As he waited at passport control, he noticed his phone kept ringing but decided against answering, for fear of being arrested.
“You always feel guilty on something that you’re not supposed to be riding. It’s never a great feeling,” Velazquez said in the winner’s enclosure, but he seemed to be bearing up reasonably well. This was his only his third Royal Ascot success but his career in the US has been productive to say the least; the total prize money won by his mounts surpassed $300m some years ago. At the age of 45, he won his second Kentucky Derby last month.
Describing Lady Aurelia’s effort as “incredible”, Velazquez said: “When I asked her, she responded right away with a great turn of foot. She’s very fast. For her to come back here and do what she did a second time, she’s got to be a special horse.”
That was a reference to the fact that Lady Aurelia also won at last year’s Royal meeting, in the Queen Mary Stakes. She is an eighth winner here for her trainer, Wesley Ward, and the first of his speedballs to score here more than once.
“That was awesome,” Ward said. “This is a Group One with some of the fastest horses in the world and, to duplicate what she did last year, she is a once in a lifetime horse. She loves it over here. It’s wonderful for American racing.”
There is a wider significance to the filly’s success, as this is the first Royal Ascot to be screened live in the US by NBC’s sports network.
Ward had already predicted the coverage would lead to more American runners here in future and an easy win for one of his horses in the third race of the week makes that all the more likely.
Chris Cook’s Wednesday tips
Ascot 2.30 Le Brivido 3.05 Mrs Gallagher 3.40 Smart Call 4.20 Highland Reel (nap) 5.00 Tabarrak (nb) 5.35 Bean Feasa
Chelmsford 6.10 Zabaletaswansong 6.40 Angrywhitepyjamas 7.10 A Momentofmadness 7.40 Perfect Summer 8.10 Menelik 8.40 Star Catch 9.10 Mythical Spirit
Hamilton 2.10 Villa Tora 2.45 Poet’s Prince 3.20 Love Oasis 3.55 Four Wishes 4.35 Titi Makfi 5.10 Colour Contrast 5.45 Tonto’s Spirit
Ripon 6.50 Hit The Lights 7.20 Kalagia 7.50 Dowayla 8.20 Night Law 8.50 Marmion 9.20 Yorkshire Pudding
Uttoxeter 2.20 Major Davis 2.55 Willyegolassiego 3.30 Sand Blast 4.05 Petrou 4.45 Supreme Steel 5.20 Bronco Billy 5.55 Ronnie Lawson
