“No disrespect to Lester Piggott,” Mark Johnston said after the first race here on Wednesday, “but is Frankie Dettori not just the greatest jockey?”
It was rhetorical, of course, and Piggott, who unveiled a statue of himself at the course on Tuesday, could point to a career record of 116 winners compiled when the Royal meeting was over four days rather than five. Dettori, nearly 30 years after his first Royal success, has “just” 62.
It was still possible to see where Johnston was coming from, though, as the most successful current rider at the meeting rode a 75-1 double which proved there is still no one better on racing’s defining occasions.
Raffle Prize, Johnston’s winner of the opening Queen Mary Stakes, was an 18-1 chance and only one of Dettori’s 60 Royal winners at the start of the day had gone in at a bigger price.
He rode with typical confidence, though, tracking the free-running Kimari, one of the favourites, before easing to the front inside the final furlong. “I knew that if it was a test of stamina, she [Kimari] would give in sooner or later,” he said afterwards. “In the final 200m I saw her stride start to shorten. I knew I had her.”
Like the Queen Mary, the day’s feature event, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, was run in driving rain and once again€ Dettori emerged from the gloom on the winner. Crystal Ocean, beaten in three previous Group One starts under three different riders, made it fourth time lucky at the highest level with Dettori holding his reins for the first time.
Dettori himself was smart enough to put his name into the frame for the ride on Sir Michael Stoute’s five‑year‑old when Enable, the dual Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, was scratched from the race late last month.
“As soon as I knew Enable was going for the Eclipse I rang Sir Michael’s office and said I was available,” Dettori said. “He’s an ultra-consistent horse, he’s a heavyweight of the sport, never runs a bad race. I was concerned about the rain because all his best form is on firm ground but the race went exactly as I thought.”
Dettori had an immensely willing partner in Crystal Ocean, who kicked on past the pace-making Hunting Horn two furlongs out and then held off the determined challenge of Magical and Ryan Moore to win by a length and a quarter.
“I knew Crystal Ocean stayed really well, so I kicked on early and did not hear anything coming,” he said. “The rest is history. Everything went to plan. I sat where I wanted to sit and kicked early to use his stamina. He was full of running and I felt it was going to take a good one to get past me. He stuck his head out and galloped right to the line.”
While this was Crystal Ocean’s first win at Group One level, he has been a model of consistency throughout his career and has not finished outside the first three in any of his 15 starts, including a half-length second in the 2017 St Leger.
Stoute, who has few equals in turf history when it comes to patiently constructing a horse’s career over several seasons, can now plot a course through the remainder of the season that is likely to include several attempts to add to Crystal Ocean’s tally at the highest level, perhaps including the Eclipse at Sandown and the King George here at Ascot at the end of July.
One of the joint leaders in the race to be the top jockey at Royal Ascot 2019 has a full book of six rides on Thursday’s card. The other has six rides at Ripon. Daniel Tudhope is unlikely to be too disheartened, however, after the 9-1 victory of Move Swiftly in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes gave him his third win in two days at this year’s Royal meeting.
Ryan Moore, who joined Tudhope on three winners when Southern Hills took the concluding Windsor Castle Stakes, remains the overwhelming favourite to lift the top jockey award for the ninth time in 10 years.
Tudhope, though, is due to be back at Ascot on Friday and Saturday and is riding with immense confidence. His three winners this week have taken him into second place behind Oisin Murphy in the race for the overall jockeys’ championship in 2019, while his record for William Haggas, trainer of Move Swiftly, is a remarkable 14 wins from 20 starts in 2019.
Rawdaa, whose rider Frankie Dettori had already completed a double on the day, hit the front inside the final furlong in the Duke of Cambridge but Tudhope delivered Move Swiftly with a precisely timed challenge to edge her out by a neck.
“I didn’t want to be too far back but I ended up being there for some reason,” Tudhope said. “She travelled nicely and enjoyed the ground and I think she will improve for that run again. It felt like she was just getting tired on me and I think there is more to come. I couldn’t have imagined riding three winners at the start of the week but we are having a great week and I’m riding for good people.”
Those who want to follow a jockey might be interested to know that Tudhope’s rides at Ripon on Thursday include three trained by Haggas – Al Aakif, Faylaq and Ummainar – and all three are likely to set off as favourites.
As a result Tudhope will hope to make further inroads into Murphy’s lead in the title race.
Murphy has been struggling for winners in recent days and also suffered the embarrassment of missing his rides at Salisbury on Sunday after failing a pre-racing breath test. He got off the mark for this year’s Royal Ascot meeting, however, when Andrew Balding’s Dashing Willoughby took the Queen’s Vase from Aidan O’Brien’s Barbados on Wednesday.
