Flat racing’s heaviest hitters are sure to reassert their supremacy soon enough but for the second afternoon running here on Friday Bill Gredley, an owner-breeder of the old school, walked off with one of the day’s most valuable prizes. Franklin D, the hot favourite, held on to a fast-diminishing lead to win the Betfred Mile by a head and land a major gamble and may now join Big Orange, the Goodwood Cup winner, in pursuit of valuable prizes around the world.
Days like these came around with some frequency for Gredley in the 1990s, when User Friendly carried his yellow and black colours to victory in five Group Ones including the Oaks and St Leger, and Environment Friend, a five-length Dante winner in 1991, took the Eclipse two months later. But modern Flat racing is all about strength in numbers and until Big Orange’s emergence as a leading stayer Gredley’s silks had struggled to compete at the highest level. Suddenly he is in a position to pick and choose between Group One targets for Big Orange and can even afford to be lukewarm at best about the possibility of sending him to the Melbourne Cup in November, in which he finished fifth last season.
Gredley suggested after Franklin D’s success here on Friday that he may work backwards from the Dubai Gold Cup on World Cup night next March when he plans Big Orange’s schedule. Franklin D, meanwhile, will move into Group races after just lasting home against Master The World, who was in front a stride after the line.
“We’ll pencil in Dubai [for Big Orange] and try to work out something in between,” Gredley said. “The horse has come back OK so, if he stays sound, we’ll just work out where to go. I’d like to go for a good mile-and-a-half race somewhere or maybe the Irish St Leger.
“I’m not ruling out Melbourne but I’m not ruling it in. It’s a long way to go and you don’t know what weight you’re going to get. It’s a fantastic atmosphere down there but we’ll see.”
Michael Bell, Big Orange’s trainer, seems more inclined to send the five-year-old back to Flemington Park – “We’re agreeing to disagree at the moment,” he said – and may also look abroad for targets for Franklin D, who has improved significantly this season.
An emphatic win in a handicap at Newmarket less than a fortnight ago ensured that Franklin D was the clear 4-1 favourite for the 19-runner Betfred Mile on Friday morning and support was relentless for Bell’s runner throughout the day, all the way down to 7-4 at the off.
Ryan Moore’s mount was drawn against the rail in stall one, an ideal position, and he was settled in third place as the field started to turn towards home. He still had to sit and wait for an opening with two furlongs to run, however, giving his backers a few nervous moments, and while he grabbed a useful lead as soon as a gap appeared, he was all out to hold off Master The World at the line.
William Hill suggested afterwards that Big Orange and Franklin D had combined to cost it “a seven-figure sum” over the last two days and, while bookies gain little from underplaying their setbacks, this was certainly one of the bigger blows landed by the punters this summer. “He just emptied out a bit in the last 100 yards because he’d gone so hard early but from where he was drawn he had to,” Bell said. “Ryan Moore is arguably the world’s best jockey and he gave him a superb ride. We were lucky to have him on board and it’s been one hell of a week.
“Franklin D’s got a beautiful pedigree and he’s a beautiful horse who at long last is fulfilling his potential. The Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury could be one option for him but he could also be an international traveller as he loves fast ground and he’s won on a turning track. He’s improving and, when horses start improving, there’s quite a way they can go.”
Take Cover took the Group Two King George Stakes for the second time in three years, having finished a close second behind Muthmir 12 months ago, and is now on course to run in the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes at York next month.
“He loves it at York and has won a couple of times there; he just hasn’t had any luck in the Nunthorpe,” David Griffiths, Take Cover’s trainer, said. “First time he ran there he hit his head on the stalls and last year he went under them.
“We changed things a bit after last year so now he’s last in and the blindfold comes off at the last minute. I think he’s better than ever at the age of nine.”
