“He was just conserving his energy and… then there was a gap down the rails”.
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“There are other great races at Royal Ascot but the Gold Cup is what the meeting is all about”.
Kingfisher may lack the Group One profile of those horses but won a major Gold Cup trial in Leopardstown and could not have stronger each way claims. Yet it was still a sign of his winner’s mentality that, when asked how he would sum up his day after the third of his winners, Moore replied: “I need to move on from the Gold Cup”.
Ascot was the place of his magnificent seven, where he rode all the winners on a card in 1996. “I also think he will be better back at two miles”. It’s not like it is for sprinters. I don’t think George says things like that unnecessarily.
Nick Smith, head of communications at Ascot, said that Capel Path was immediately taken to a local veterinarian practise for further assessment of his injured foreleg. “The horse is blind in one eye and I’m deaf!” He’s won six in a row in Sha Tin, four of which were Group One, but he faces his toughest test yet on his European debut today.
Ascot chief executive Guy Henderson said: “It is entirely appropriate that his statue will be amongst the crowds who visit Ascot through the year, and looking at the winner’s podium”.
O’Brien said: ” Donnacha (O’Brien) was delighted with him in Leopardstown.
“A Group One victor would be nice for the CV and I’m hoping this could be the year”.
He went on to chase home The Wow Signal in the Prix Morny before swooping with great objective to lift the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last October, showing that a mile is well within his compass.
Incidentally she wore blue when Estimate finished a gallant second in last year’s renewal of the Gold Cup.
“David just told me to get her to relax and enjoy it”.
“She stepped up nicely from her first run at the Curragh”.
The home team is headed by Mizzou, who made an impressive seasonal return in Ascot’s Sagaro Stakes in late April. His style of racing – he’s so relaxed – suggests that he has every chance of getting it, as does his breeding.
Racing at Royal Ascot is preceded each day by the Royal Procession – the arrival of The Queen and the Royal party in horse-drawn carriages from Windsor Castle – which parade along the track in front of the grandstands. He’s a straightforward colt and his development over the winter was very good.
He said: “He ran a great race and we were delighted with the way he ran”.
“The race featured in a half-hearted discussion before the Chester Cup”, he revealed, “but even until last Friday we didn’t know for sure what we were going to do, but here we are”.
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“Some horses get away with quick ground once”. With no rain in the forecast before the Gold Cup, he seems unlikely to get the softer ground he wants. They bullied me into supplementing and it came off. He’s improved a lot.
