One Ascot legend handed the baton to another here on Wednesday, as Frankie Dettori’s golden run of form came to an abrupt halt and Sir Michael Stoute claimed outright possession of the all-time trainers’ record at the Royal meeting. Poet’s Word, a five-year-old who embodies Stoute’s patient approach, beat the Dettori-ridden favourite Cracksman with ease in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, and his trainer now has his 76th Royal Ascot winner.
For the second race running, Cracksman did not produce the form that carried him to a seven-length success in the Champion Stakes over the same mile and a quarter in October. Poet’s Word was the runner-up on that occasion and for all Stoute’s brilliance with maturing horses, it is hard to believe he has improved by 10 lengths since the autumn.
Poet’s Word, though, was clearly the best horse on the day, while Dettori did not look happy aboard Cracksman at any stage. The 2-5 favourite was the shortest market leader here since Black Caviar went off at 1-6 for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes in 2012, but Dettori was nudging at Cracksman soon after the start and though he got to the front at the top of the straight, James Doyle, on Poet’s Word, had him covered. He was soon in front and kept on well to beat Cracksman by two-and-a-quarter lengths.
“Obviously, he is not the same horse that I was riding in the spring,” Dettori said. “He was very lethargic and never travelling at any stage. Usually when he turns for home, the turbo kicks in but today it was very one-paced. It wasn’t his run.”
John Gosden, Cracksman’s trainer, suggested that the colt’s focus may be increasingly directed away from racing. “He was welcoming all the fillies that were walking back from the Duke Of Cambridge [Stakes] on the way back to the stables. I think we need to concentrate his mind as we know the ability is there.
“I make no excuses whatsoever. The other horse had him covered from two out. To my mind, he is just playing around a little bit. To that extent, we will get him home and sharpen him up a little bit.”
While Gosden returned to Newmarket with a puzzle on his hands, Stoute was left to enjoy one of the more significant moments of his long career. As he has pointed out, his late friend and racing rival Sir Henry Cecil compiled his record of 75 Royal Ascot winners at a time when the meeting was staged over four days rather than five.
Reaching 76 winners at the season’s most competitive meeting is still a great achievement, however, and Stoute went on to make it 77 when Expert Eye took the concluding Jersey Stakes.
“Henry did most of his training when it was four days,” Stoute said, “so I’ve had more cracks at it than he did. Nobody respected him more than I did as a trainer.
“Royal Ascot is very special for any trainer, and we’ve been very lucky in that we have brought a lot of nice horses here over the years. The first one, Etienne Gerard in the [1977] Jersey Stakes, was special, and I took particular satisfaction from Shareef Dancer, the first horse that Sheikh Maktoum-al-Maktoum sent to me. He had a blip on his first run of the season, then won the King Edward VII here [in 1983] and went on to win the Irish Derby.
“Poet’s Word is a very sound, consistent horse and he’s just met some good ones in Group Ones before. We’ll stop and think now but it could be the Eclipse [over Wednesday’s 10-furlong trip] or it could be the King George [over 12]. I think he’s equally effective at 10 and 12 furlongs and there are not many that are at that level.”
Stoute’s second success of the day with Expert Eye was also significant for his jockey James McDonald. He was a leading figure in the Australian weighing room and Godolphin’s retained jockey in the southern hemisphere when he was banned for 18 months in 2016 for asking a friend to place a $1,000 bet on his behalf on a horse making its racecourse debut.
British fans may well remember McDonald making a name for himself during a busman’s holiday in the summer of 2016 that included a win in the Northumberland Plate Handicap and Group-race successes at both Newmarket’s July meeting and Glorious Goodwood.
McDonald is now trying to rebuild his career and has two more significant rides at this week’s meeting: Equilateral, the favourite for the Group One Commonwealth Cup on Friday, and Stoute’s Elector, in the Queen’s colours, in the King Edward VII Stakes the same afternoon.
“He felt like a rocket ship out there,” McDonald said. “Credit to the horse and credit to Sir Michael, he’s a true legend.”
