![Frankie Dettori shouts as he crosses the line but Marsha and Luke Morris [near] triumph.](https://media.guim.co.uk/3093e4b36b00b402daa0538783cb8ede4de3ddbf/16_19_3752_2252/1000.jpg)
Frankie Dettori is famous for his celebrations but his exuberance led to a moment he will want to forget here on Friday after the jockey punched the air and waved his whip in triumph following a frantic conclusion to the Nunthorpe Stakes.
Dettori, riding the 10-11 favourite Lady Aurelia, was convinced he had edged out Marsha and Luke Morris to take the feature race but the photo-finish camera begged to differ and a few moments later it was announced Marsha had got up in the final stride to win by a nose.
Dettori still looked dazed by the outcome as he returned to unsaddle. “I’m gutted,” he said. “I thought I’d won by a neck.”
Morris, though, switched from despair to delight as it became clear his rival’s celebration had been premature. “I wasn’t sure and when I saw Frankie put his arm up, I was gutted as I thought he had won,” he said. “Then someone said congratulations to me and it turned into jubilation.”
Both horses recorded the same time, 57.97sec, for the five-furlong contest, and Lady Aurelia led for all but the final millisecond. Battaash, the brilliant winner of a Group Two sprint at Glorious Goodwood this month, had been expected to offer the sternest threat to the favourite but he dropped away tamely with a furlong to run having been unruly before the start, leaving Lady Aurelia in an apparently unassailable lead.
Marsha was now the only possible danger but while she was making ground on Lady Aurelia, it seemed the line would arrive in time for the favourite. A final lunge, though, was enough to secure the prize for Sir Mark Prescott’s filly, who runs in the colours of the £199-per-year Elite Racing Club and gave its 10,000 members their eighth success at the highest level.
Marsha was also responsible for the seventh, in last season’s Prix de l’Abbaye on Arc day, and will now return to Chantilly for the same race on 1 October. Lady Aurelia will head to the Turf Sprint at the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar in early November.
Wesley Ward, Lady Aurelia’s US-based trainer, has become a familiar sight in the winner’s enclosure at Royal Ascot in recent seasons but he has yet to saddle a winner in Britain in the second half of a year and has now sent out the runner-up in the Nunthorpe for two years running.
“We’ll make no excuses, we were beat on the square,” Ward said. “The horse ran a fantastic race and we didn’t really have any issues. We were in the gate a little long and she broke a bit sideways but other than that it was a beautiful trip.
“You can’t take anything from the winner, she beat us, and unfortunately it was by the hair on my chinny chin chin that she got us. I thought she’d won because Frankie stood up and was so excited but that’s racing and we’ll hopefully continue on to have more great days. Two seconds in this race is tough. One of these days I’ll have to get it, hopefully next year.”
Prescott, who was inspecting yearling in Ireland, was not at York to see Marsha reverse the form of the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, a race for which she started favourite but finished only third behind Lady Aurelia.
“Lady Aurelia beat us at Ascot and was unbeatable on the day but it’s a five-furlong race and there is always a chance every time you turn up,” William Butler, Prescott’s assistant, said.
“We were very pleased coming into the race. She had done everything right at home and you don’t have to do much with her because she has been racing very regularly. She was bouncing coming in and thank goodness it paid off.”
Friday’s card was a difficult one for Dettori from start to finish, as his mount Daban, the favourite for the City Of York Stakes, suffered a pelvic injury in the early stages and was quickly pulled up. John Gosden’s filly was later reported to be “comfortable” in the racecourse stables.
Later in the day, Dettori was unseated in the stalls when his mount Doswell became unruly before the start of the Convivial Maiden Stakes. Doswell was withdrawn, while the spoils in the richest maiden event of the British season went to Mark Johnston’s Dream Today.
GREG WOOD’S TIPS
Cartmel
2.15 Knockmaole Boy 2.45 Pretty Miss Mahler 3.25 Flying Eagle 4.00 Pekanheim 4.35 Shake It Up 5.10 Beeno 5.45 Ange Des Malbereux
Chester
1.50 Barbarianatthegate 2.30 Fujin 3.05 Guishan 3.40 Sable Island 4.15 Echo Of Lightning 4.45 See Of Rome 5.20 Katebird
Goodwood
1.35 Kareva 2.10 Billesdon Brook 2.45 Burnt Sugar 3.20 Lightning Spear 3.55 Call To Mind 4.30 Reaver 5.05 Just In Time
Newmarket
2.05 Balletomane 2.40 Finsbury Park 3.15 Plant Pot Power 3.50 Hochfeld 4.25 Lancelot Du Lac 5.00 Bahamian Dollar 5.35 Foxy Forever
Redcar
4.50 Haymarket 5.25 Mistress Of Venice 5.55 Escape The City 6.25 Bamber Bridge 6.55 Insurplus 7.25 Bodacious Name 7.55 Someone Exciting
Windsor
5.10 Tiepolo 5.40 Arctic Flower 6.10 Across The Stars 6.40 Chain Of Daisies 7.10 Field Of Vision 7.40 The Secrets Out
York
1.55 Mustashry 2.25 Intellect 3.00 Headway (nb) 3.35 Battersea (nap) 4.10 Bengali Boys 4.40 Uae Prince 5.15 Mayleaf Shine
