Darley had to be far less forceful on Attraction in the Coronation Stakes than in the winners’ enclosure afterwards, where the outstanding performance of the meeting, of the year, most probably, was greeted with polite but muted applause. Had this been the Cheltenham Festival, they would still be searching the Cotswolds for the rooftops.
Attraction apart, the saviour of the 2004 royal meeting bore a familiar face. So often has Frankie Dettori resorted to his flying dismount that his knees will be feeling the firm ground this morning every bit as seriously as some of the two-year-old sprinters on parade yesterday. What is it with Dettori and Ascot? The Italian has been riding as well as anybody can remember all season, but the particular contours of the Berkshire course seem to extract the magical best out of a jockey who thrives on confidence.
Like good vaudeville troupers, Dettori and Godolphin left the best until last yesterday. Doyen’s victory in the Hardwicke Stakes was the sixth of the meeting for Saeed Bin Suroor and the boys in blue, and easily the most eye-catching. Not even Dettori could have anticipated the way that the four-year-old would dominate High Accolade, a rascal of a horse, but one blessed with enough talent to win the King Edward VII Stakes last year.
It was clear from well before the turn that Doyen, fourth in the Arc de Triomphe last autumn, was travelling the best of the six-strong field, and by the three-furlong pole the question for Dettori was simply one of timing.
As Systematic and Songlark duelled for the lead, Dettori waited until the two-furlong mark to release the hot favourite. When he did so, the acceleration was impressive enough to vault Doyen not just well clear of his rivals but to the top of the market for the King George back at Ascot at the end of July. Given that North Light, the Derby winner, and Godolphin’s Papineau, almost as casual a winner of the Gold Cup two days before, are aiming for the prime middle-distance race of high summer, the bookmakers’ reaction was, for once, highly instructive. Ladbrokes went 7-4, with North Light 3-1; Coral, who initially kept North Light a 3-1 favourite, soon changed its mind and promoted Doyen to 9-4 favourite.
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“I am really left speechless by that performance,” said Dettori, which would have been a first, had he kept his word. “The first time I rode him for Andre (Fabre, Doyen’s trainer last year) he said, ‘Sit last, pull him out in the straight, and let him go, I’ll speak to you in the morning. I’m off to play polo’. I said, ‘Just like that?’ He said, ‘Yeah, just like that’. He was still on the weak side in the Arc, but I tell you, this horse is really good.”
With Papineau, Sulamani, one of the few disappointments for Godolphin last week, and Rule Of Law all potential challengers for the King George, Sheikh Mohammed has an embarrassment of riches for mid-season, but Dettori will need some persuading to desert Doyen. With Punctilious, Kheleyf and Refuse To Bend all making up for recent disappointments, Bin Suroor can also breathe more easily, the nightmare of last season no more than a distant memory. “It’s been a team effort,” added Dettori, who ended the meeting as top jockey with six winners. “I just get all the glory.” Which is how he likes it.
The other accent vying for the airwaves over the winners’ enclosure yesterday bore rather blunter vowels than Dettori’s effervescent Anglo-Italian. Tim Easterby stayed at home to supervise his runners at Redcar, so father Peter was dispatched to watch Fayr Jag better his performance in winning the Wokingham 12 months ago by landing the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes. This was the race won last year by Choisir, the brilliant Australian sprinter who had won the King’s Stand Stakes four days earlier.
“We came down principally for Dazzling Bay in the Wokingham, but we thought we’d bring Fayr Jag as well,” Easterby Sr said. “He loves Ascot. Last year Willie (Supple, the jockey) came too late; this year he got to the front too soon.”
There’s no pleasing some Yorkshiremen, but inside the hour the white rose had struck again with Lafi, a first Royal Ascot winner for the Thirsk-based Dandy Nicholls. “How does this rate?” mused Nicholls. “Bloody marvellous, that’s how. It’s marvellous to have a runner, never mind a winner here.”
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Some southern pride had been upheld earlier in the day when Whazzat, the only filly in the race, spreadeagled a decent field in the Chesham Stakes for trainer Barry Hills and his jockey son, Michael. “She’s not all that big, but she’s tough,” said Hills Sr. By Daylami out of a mare by Generous, Whazzat has stamina aplenty in the pedigree, and though the canny Hills would not be drawn on future plans, he will be eyeing the 1,000 Guineas from a safe distance. “
She won’t be coming back too quickly,” he added.
The royal meeting is scheduled to return to base in 2006, if the development of the new stand runs to time. Dettori, for one, cannot wait.