One Down, Four To Go

Royal Ascot began in near-perfect fashion for the southern hemisphere this morning with Haradasun’s epic victory in the Gr 1 Queen Anne Stakes and Takeover Target’s game second in the Gr 1 King’s Stand.

And Exceed And Excel got in the act with a longshot (but impressive) Listed two-year-old winner in the form of Flashmans Papers.

Congratulations to the Coolmore/Arch of Gold team. They took the big gamble to expose Haradasun on the international stage when so much was at stake, that being his huge purchase price and the reputation that goes with it. Their management and skill have now established the ultimate breeding platform for Haradasun who, though he is the shining light sired by the mentally fragile Fusaichi Pegasus, is a great cut of a horse out of clearly one of the broodmares of our times, Circles Of Gold, a Eulogy-line Oaks winning daughter of Marscay who raced on 43 occasions and who was probably better at five than she was at three.

Haradasun has come a long way from 10 June 2006 when Tony Vasil took him to Swan Hill to win the Super Vobis 2YO Handicap by 10 lengths on debut.

Aidan O’Brien won with Haradasun and, two races later, with the outstanding three-year-old Henrythenavigator in the St James’s Palace Stakes. On both occasions he employed pacemakers to ensure these megadollar studs got their races run to suit. Nothing left to chance when $100 million rests on the results.

The pacemakers, longshots Honoured Guest in Haradasun’s race and Minneapolis in the other, were tried to their limits but of course were found wanting. When Honoured Guest, who had been breaking the wind for Haradasun camped behind him on the rail, moved over to give the big colt racing room, jockey David McCabe gave a look over his shoulder which was straight out of the Shane Dye box of tricks, identical to RSD’s effort on Imprimatur when inviting Myocard to come through in the AJC Derby all those years ago. (I remember, I had a racing interest in Imprimatur!).

Years ago I was in charge of a stallion, Diagramatic (USA), who was a good middle distance racehorse on his day but his greatest usefulness in life was as pacemaker for the champion Exceller (USA). Diagramatic was by Sir Wiggle (a son of the brilliant Australian mare Wiggle) out of a Chilean-bred mare. As his breeding might have foretold, he was a sire of little account though he got a freak little filly in Tidal Light (NZ).

There is nothing new to be said about Takeover Target who lines up again on Saturday night. Cynics might say that anyone can train a champion but that’s a load of crap. I’ve never met Joe Janiak but I also know I’ve never met any trainer who could have done a better job with the horse than the low-brow cabbie from Queanbeyan. Horses don’t train themselves, they don’t feed themselves, they don’t travel themselves. Someone has to do it for them. Joe rules.

Spare a thought for Magnus who, like Haradasun, is meant to have run his last race. He didn’t figure in the finish of this morning’s event but he wasn’t disgraced; he’s not won many races but he’s competed honourably in a vintage era of sprinters and he’ll be a valued addition to Victorian stallion ranks. Sir Tristram only won two races!

If the Aussies were proud of the way their horses ran, think how the Spanish (the Spanish??) must have felt when one of their own, Equiano, won the Gr 1 King’s Stand. Actually, Equiano is French-bred and has raced in La Belle France over the last 12 months, trained by his Spanish trainer. A remote relative of Equiano is the plodding Danehill stayer Roanoke which Anthony Cummings cajoled to win a poor Listed Handicap at Randwick one day.

I know jack about Spanish racing but I do recall a marathon runner named Royal Gait (by Gunner B) which hailed from there in the mid-80s. He was remarkable. He had a total of 14 starts in Spain, winning seven of them, but became famous when he crossed the Pyrennees to win some of Paris’s great staying tests. He raced from three years until 10, had 99 starts and his last win was in none other than the Champion Hurdle at the famous Cheltenham National Hunt Festival. There was an unforgettable horse not unlike him in New Zealand in the '70s named Execute, but that story's for another day.

Art Connoisseur’s turn of foot to win the Gr 2 Coventry Stakes was unbelievable. He came from last, straight past a supposedly hot field, to win in a jog. He is by a sire named Lucky Story, a non-Gr 1 winner who is a brother to Dr Fong who stood in Australia almost without trace a few years ago. Art Connoisseur and the second horse in the Coventry, Intense Focus (by the despised-in-Australia Giant’s Causeway), are out of Danehill mares.

Henrythenavigator, on form, had a lot on his rivals in the St James’s Palace, and though he was run close enough at the end by Elusive Quality’s son Raven’s Pass, his win was fairly contemptuous. He and Dolphin Street share some common ancestry; he’s a magnificently-bred son of Kingmambo and when he shuttles (will he shuttle?) will be a natural beau for Danehill mares. Though he’s just 18 years old with still plenty of time to right the picture, Kingmambo has been rather despairing as a sire of sires. Lemon Drop Kid is possibly his best to date. King’s Best was worse than bad in Australia and now we are waiting to see if Dubai Destination will amount to anything. (I hope so, I have 20% of one of his fillies!).

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I spent most of the morning flicking between TVN and Sky to see what sort of coverage they were providing. Both took the same feed from the UK, that of the specialist UK racing channel, AtTheRaces. The British coverage was liberally interspersed with ad breaks which naturally become ad breaks here also. In the case of TVN the breaks were insufferable, filled with those interminable house ads, hour after hour, ad infinitum, promoting themselves, their programmes and their publications. We’re already watching and are committed, nitwits, that’s why we’re up at 2.30 in the morning. Obviously they can’t sell ad time on TVN. I’ve never got up and made so many cups of tea in three hours. You just can’t watch it. On the other hand, Sky used a continuity voice-over, Andrew le Jeune, to fill in most of the gaps. Visually it wasn’t exciting television with static betting markets displayed on screen, but this man is impressively right on top of his subject and what he says is well worth listening to. It’s Sky for me for the rest of the week, no race.

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Apart from some memorable performances on the turf, three images stick in my mind from Day One’s coverage.

Firstly, watching class mare Finsceal Beo going to post in the Queen Anne. If she was walking away from you at the yearling sales with the knees and action she looked to possess in last night’s shots, you’d be putting the line straight through her. I’m constantly reminded that legs are only wheels, not motors, but I’d have to say her wheels looked square. I’d be interested if anyone’s seen her in the flesh and could comment on her conformation. Timeform describe her as an “excellent walker”.

Secondly, Jay Ford won the prize for the worst haircut (apart from John McCririck's of course).

Thirdly, what was that thing on Mrs Magnier’s head?