ASCOT regulars will be hoping that extensive surgery has not removed an endearing trait from the face of the royal racecourse. One feature guaranteed to bring familiarity to the all-new facade is the sight of Frankie Dettori and his flying dismount.
Dettori and Royal Ascot appear umbilically bound. The jockey thrives on the infusions of a highly-charged meeting that has seen him plunder the riding laurels five times. He can barely wait for the stalls to snap open tomorrow.
Shorn of George Washington’s opening-day presence through injury, Ascot’s trustees would trade their right arms for some Italian fireworks. Dettori, for his part, is itching to light the fuse. “For me,” he said, “Ascot means almost everything. The royal meeting is probably the most important week in the year.”
Bookmakers are an unsentimental lot, however, as evidenced by odds of 7-2 against Dettori topping the pile. They make Kieren Fallon favourite at 2-1, with Jamie Spencer on 100-30. Yet encouragement for Dettori’s prospects stems from the recent revival of Godolphin, who have saddled four winners from six runners since they emerged from a self-imposed hiatus.
“This year we are hopeful rather than confident,” Dettori said. “We had a quiet two weeks but the signs are good. Shawanda, Electrocutionist, Proclamation and Silca’s Sister are our main horses. All of them seem to be going well and we hope one of them can come through.” Whatever his fate, Dettori is long odds against failing to add to his 37 Royal Ascot winners. His prowess is such that he has been enlisted by ten different trainers, and his book reads with the best of them.
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Dettori opens tomorrow with Mubaashir (Coventry Stakes), Pivotal Point (King’s Stand), Royal Power (St James’s Palace Stakes), Scented Present (Windsor Castle) and Proclamation, who faces eight opponents in the Queen Anne Stakes.
And so it goes on. Wednesday’s highlights include Electrocutionist (Prince Of Wales’s), Nina Blini (Queen Mary) and Secret World (Jersey). Ladies’ Day sees him aboard Guadalajara (Gold Cup), Easy Air (Britannia) and Reunite (Ribblesdale), while Friday’s prospects include Red Rocks (King Edward VII) and Silca’s Sister (Coronation). Shawanda (Hardwicke) is the plum on Saturday.
Dettori, who missed last year’s renewal at York through suspension, was among the winners when Ascot staged its dress rehearsal last month. “It was fantastic,” he reflected of the occasion. “The track rode beautiful and we only had 10,000 people there. With another 50,000 added on, it should be an amazing experience.”
A repeat of his “Magnificent Seven” ten years ago is out of the question, although the man who rode his first group one winner aboard Markofdistinction in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes is quietly optimistic. “I am very content and riding well,” he said. “I seem to be lucky there and I hope that continues at the new place.”
OUIJA BOARD HAS CHOICE OF RACES
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A decision on Ouija Board’s Royal Ascot target will be made today. She is entered in both the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday and Saturday’s Hardwicke Stakes.