I t paid to stay at home. John Gosden’s plan to confine Windsor Knot to the domestic scene rather than take on the French at Deauville paid rich dividends in the Solario Stakes at Sandown yesterday.
The Manton trainer had been pondering the possibility of a cross-Channel raid with Sheikh Mohammed’s powerful-striding colt and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the rain-sodden turf in northern France.
Instructing Frankie Dettori to employ Windsor Knot’s stamina to the full, Gosden had filled his jockey with confidence for what was generally considered an above-average Solario in which several reputations were on the line.
Dettori duly jumped his mount off in front and always had his rivals on the back foot. It was no cakewalk being in front in the tacky conditions; even so, Windsor Knot lengthened his stride up the final, lung-bursting hill for an emphatic two-and-a-half-length victory over Embossed.
Speaking from Deauville, Gosden said: “I have always liked him a lot and he was ready for a big performance. I had thought about bringing him over here. But the ground at Deauville is as bad as it’s been so it’s probably a good job he stayed at home.”
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Gosden added that the Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot at the end of September is a likely option for Windsor Knot. On the back of such a successful first season, it is almost inevitable that Sheikh Mohammed will ship his Pivotal colt out to Dubai for the winter and bring him back next spring in the royal blue colours of Godolphin. Windsor Knot is already being quoted as short as 25-1 for the 2,000 Guineas.
The big disappointment yesterday was Mark Johnston’s Leo’s Lucky Star, the 5-2 favourite, who trailed home last. Shortly afterwards Johnston had a smile back on his face after saddling his rising star Mister Monet to win the valuable Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville. Next stop for Mister Monet will be the Champion Stakes at Newmarket in October.
Dettori, treating the sun-kissed Variety Club crowd to a second flying dismount, said: “John told me to let Windsor Knot use his stride and make sure the race did not develop into a sprint, and it worked.”
The Italian had earlier leapt skywards, arms outstretched in his trademark winners’ enclosure celebration, after his first- race success on Zietory. But then he had to endure a stewards’ inquiry into possible interference. Dettori was deemed to have accidentally hung across the third horse, Three Secrets, causing Richard Hughes to switch his mount.
“I never thought there was a problem. My filly was hanging left and just as we cleared Richard she ducked in. It was accidental,” reported Dettori, who went on to complete a 1,511-1 four-timer on Out After Dark and Porthcawl.
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Dettori, currently nine behind championship leader Kieren Fallon, said: “I thought I had some good rides but didn’t expect four winners. I’m going to ride as many winners as I can but there’s still a long way to go in the championship. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
It was appropriate that Telemachus, named after the son of a Greek god, should win the William Hill Handicap during the Athens Olympics. The James Given-trained gelding was bought by the late Chris Brasher, himself an Olympic gold medallist.
Much of the agonising that took place during last week’s York fixture will stretch far beyond the confines of the Knavesmire, the scene of the dress rehearsal for Royal Ascot 2005.
For trainers Luca Cumani and Aidan O’Brien, in particular, there are anxious times ahead. Cumani has to wait and see if Mephisto will keep the Ebor Handicap in the face of an appeal by Toby Balding, who saddled the runner-up Gold Ring, beaten a short head in controversial circumstances.
Cumani experienced a rollercoaster of emotions during the Ebor and then had to endure a 20-minute stewards’ inquiry before it was confirmed that Mephisto would keep the race after leaning on Gold Ring. “One furlong out I thought Mephisto might win; half a furlong out I thought he was sure to win and then on the line I thought he was beaten,” sighed Cumani. Now he must cope with the strain of more deliberations, this time from the appeal board in London.
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O’Brien admitted that the pressure heaped on him before One Cool Cat had finished third in the Nunthorpe Stakes was self-inflicted. “It was all because I had made a dog’s dinner of the horse and shouldn’t have run him back at a mile again after he ran in the 2,000 Guineas. How could I have got it so wrong?” he said. O’Brien must go through it all again before ‘The Cat’ attempts to redeem his reputation in either the Haydock Sprint Cup or France’s Prix de l’Abbaye.
York City Council, meanwhile, must attempt to find a winning route for the race traffic. Next June there will be twice as many racegoers on each of the five days of ‘Royal Ascot at York’ as there were last week. The councillors appear to have an almost impossible task to devise a system that will avoid last week’s gridlock.