When asked how far out he thought he would win, Dettori, with his excited young children Ella and Leo on each arm, replied: “About a week ago! I couldn’t believe that I was riding in a classic because it is usually punch, punch, punch but today I was travelling so smoothly all the way. When I pressed the button the response was immediate and then I heard the screams from the crowd. They knew I was going to win as well.”
Sixties Icon had been easy in the market and was eventually returned 11-8 favourite, partly due to the recent quiet spell of his trainer Jeremy Noseda's Newmarket stable. But this was the one that mattered, giving the ambitious Noseda his first Classic and Dettori a fourth. He came home two and a half lengths ahead of 50-1 shot The Last Drop with Red Rocks third.
Noseda, who is in America at the Keeneland Sales, watched the race from his hotel room and said: “I am absolutely delighted and wish I was there. It’s a great day and I’m delighted that he did it in the style we anticipated; he never looked like getting beaten. I think that he is going to get even better and make a really nice four-year-old next year.”
First, there is the possibility of Sixties Icon being supplemented for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris on October 1.
Owner Paul Roy, son of a Smithfields butcher who has become a big player in the City, admitted: “Jeremy and I have talked about spending some of the winning on supplementing him for the Arc if he won here. But let’s see how he comes out of this before any decisions are made.”
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The plan was hatched back in early June. Trainer Eoghan O’Neill and his trusted trio of owners, a group of local property developers from Newark who race under the name of Fasthandle Ltd, supported their ambitions with enough readies to reduce the odds from 25-1 and 16-1. And Vital Equine did the rest in the Champagne Stakes, proving their judgment to be spot on.
“I ride him at home every day,” said Newark-based O’Neill, full of emotion at the realisation that their plot with the unbeaten Vital Equine had worked to the letter. “He has been giving me great vibes when I have ridden him recently, though we have always thought a great deal about him.
“After he won his second race at Yarmouth back in June we decided to target this race. He is a horse with a huge future and we bought him for only 24,000 guineas.”
The Champagne is one of the autumn pointers to the following year's classics and Vital Equine is generally a 25-1 chance for next year's 2,000 Guineas.
But first there will be another opportunity to consider his talents, possibly in the National Stakes at The Curragh on Sunday, although O’Neill has him well entered up and wants to see how he recovers from yesterday's exertions.
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The day started badly, at 4am to be precise, for the Maktoum family’s massive Godolphin thoroughbred empire with the sudden death of its outstanding performer, Electrocutionist, but it ended with Iffraaj’s triumph in the GNER Park Stakes. A subdued trainer Saeed bin Suroor and jockey Frankie Dettori returned to unsaddle but there were no flying dismounts much to the dismay of the racegoers who were not aware of the tragic news.
“Electrocutionist was a great horse to be around and he was a great fighter in his races,” said Dettori. Apparently, Electrocutionist, winner of the Dubai World Cup and narrowly beaten by Hurricane Run in the King George at Ascot, had had a suspected heart attack during a swimming session and was in the care of a veterinary hospital in Newmarket.
Dettori, the darling of the Yorkshire crowd, went on to complete a treble aboard Echo of Light in the Strensall Stakes. He then flew off to Italy where he was riding under floodlights last night before heading to Goodwood this afternoon.
Fantasy Believer, produced from the local Malton stables of John Quinn to bolt home in the Portland Handicap, will be on his way to Scotland this week for Saturday's Ayr Gold Cup. “He seems in better form than when he was fifth last year and it's nice to be going up there with a Portland under our belt,” smiled Quinn.