Both won at the Dubai World Cup meeting at Nad al Sheba in March, but while Electrocutionist spent his formative years in Italy before he was bought by Godolphin as a ready-made challenger for the middle-distance Group races, David Junior shocked everyone, it seemed, bar his trainer Brian Meehan, with his 25-1 victory in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket late last year.
His facile win in Dubai confirmed the improvement, but the five-year-old Electrocutionist, winner of eight of his ten races, might prove too battle-hardened over ten furlongs. The belated and costly addition of the André Fabre-trained Manduro lends a further competitive edge to a field that might also include the great Ouija Board and the improving Notnowcato, a recent Sandown winner for Sir Michael Stoute.
Wins for Librettist and Satchem in recent weeks have at least allayed the sense of frustration felt in the heart of Godolphin, one of the greatest racing empires on the planet and, you can be sure, of Sheikh Mohammed, its driving force, after a wretched start to the season.
Warning signals were still emerging from Newmarket late last week, but a recent five-timer at Goodwood has at least rekindled Frankie Dettori’s interest in the season. With Electrocutionist and Proclamation leading Godolphin’s challenge for the major honours, the new winners’ enclosure at Royal Ascot will surely be christened with a trademark flying dismount in the opening two days. The winners’ post from the old enclosure has pride of place in the Italian’s garden; he will regard the new one as part of his furniture soon enough.
In contrast, Coolmore are fielding no more than a strong B team, led by Ace and Marcus Andronicus, second in the French 2,000 Guineas behind his stablemate, Aussie Rules. The Coolmore stars — George Washington, Dylan Thomas, Aussie Rules and Alexandrova — are recovering from early-season Classic campaigns, but as all Aidan O’Brien’s string have improved markedly from the start of the season, ignore the challenge at your peril.
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No Royal Ascot would be complete without an Australian accent, but a genuine touch of Seabiscuit flows through the story of their latest star sprinter. Not that long ago, Takeover Target was hobbling round a paddock on the outskirts of Canberra, his mediocre racing career behind him and only a bleak future ahead. Joe Janiak, a taxi driver for 30 years, could not believe he had just paid £450 for the privilege of training the horse.
Janiak gave his new charge time to rest and recover, then began to campaign him on the local tracks. As victory followed victory, Janiak’s sights were raised until Takeover Target became the most respected sprinter in Australia. Last week, Janiak remained steadfastly unmoved by the trappings of the world’s greatest racing festival. He had, he said, just renewed his cab licence, but if his sprinter should emulate the great Choisir by winning both the King’s Stand on Tuesday and the Golden Jubilee on Saturday, which is a distinct possibility, the taxi will stay in the garage for a few more years.
“I’ve been around horses for 30 years, a lot of them very slow,” the 59-year-old trainer said last week. “But this one just doesn’t like getting beat.”
Another Ascot debutant has also taken the long road to the royal meeting. Tim Pitt has always known where he wanted to go, he was just unsure of his means of transport. Then he answered an advertisement for a trainer in the racing press and moved north to the Martin Grange Stables at Bawtry, owned by the football agent Willie McKay.
Now the pair are wondering at the rapidity of their recent rise, which was crowned by a double victory at the Chester meeting last month and a debut visit to Royal Ascot with Les Arcs in the King’s Stand and Admiral, the winner of the Chester Cup, in the long-distance Ascot Stakes. “This time last year, if you had have told me I would be taking two horses down to Royal Ascot, both with live chances, I’d have said you were daft, but these are exciting times,” says the first-season trainer.
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No less than any other sport, racing is quick to lord a potential new star, but Pitt’s emergence is all the more satisfying because, in a world where training tends to run in the veins, he has enjoyed none of the usual advantages of birth or background. Both Janiak and Pitt would make fine ambassadors of the new golden age dawning on the Queen’s course.