Who will win the Ascot Gold Cup? Part 4
(中文版)
Quiz question: Which horse was placed in two Cheltenham Festivals before winning a Group 1 race on the flat?
The answer is of course Rite Of Passage (below in purple and yellow silks), who won the 2010 renewal of the Ascot Gold Cup.
Rite Of Passage carries the silks of Dr Ronan Lambe. Lambe has regularly featured in the Sunday Times’s Rich List (which details the richest people in the UK and the World) and has he estimated wealth of around £70 million. He made his fortune through a company he co-founded called Icon PLC, which provides services to the pharmaceutical and medical industries. Icon grew from being a company which employed just 6 people in Dublin in 1990 into what is now a multi-billion pound global business which operates in 39 countries. [protected]
On the racetrack, Lambe’s silks are rarely seen in flat racing and his horses are usually associated with National Hunt Racing in Ireland. Rite Of Passage started his racing life in that sphere winning Bumpers (National Hunt flat races) at Galway and Naas before finishing 3rd in the Champion Bumper at the world famous Cheltenham Festival in 2009. As with most National Hunt horses, his season competing in Bumpers was followed by a hurdling campaign and Rite Of Passage was back at Cheltenham in 2010 where he finished 3rd in the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle (a key championship race for Novice hurdlers) behind Peddler’s Cross. That run would have marked Rite Of Passage down as one of the most exciting prospects in jump racing.
However, Rite Of Passage’s trainer, Dermot Weld, is a man who has always looked for ‘another way’ and it is a typical of the man that he had the foresight to target the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup on the flat as this horse’s next target. Weld has forged a reputation as being a fantastic ‘International’ trainer – with Vintage Crop’s two Melbourne Cup victories the highest profile examples of the success he has enjoyed when sending his horses overseas.
The reality is that Weld is probably just a master of knowing exactly what his horses are capable of and then finding the right races for them to run in – wherever in the world that might prove to be.
The story of last year’s Ascot Gold Cup was all about stamina as Rite Of Passage wore down Coolmore’s Age Of Aquarius in the home straight – his superior staying power clearly the defining factor on the day. And staying power is what has to give Rite Of Passage a major chance of a repeat victory this season.
We know all about the quality of Fame And Glory over a mile and a half – but Aidan O’Brien’s horse has a question mark hanging over his ability to stay the two and a half mile trip - and even though Fame And Glory got the better of Rite Of Passage (who finished 3rd) in Leopardstown’s Saval Beg Stakes over 1m6f, many observers felt that the reigning champion ran the better trial for the Ascot Gold Cup.
After all, this was Rite Of Passage’s first run of the season (as opposed to Fame And Glory’s second) and his trainer was adamant that he would improve for the outing.
Come next Thursday, it is Rite Of Passage who will be setting the benchmark. He is the horse with the proven stamina, a proven like for the course and a trainer who has proved he is up to winning on the very biggest stage. All of the others – Coolmore and Godolphin included, will feel that if they can finish in front of Rite Of Passage – then the Ascot Gold Cup will be theirs. [/protected]
Next week: The final field field for the Ascot Gold Cup – comments on all of the contenders and the verdict on where the trophy will be heading.
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