Who will win the Royal Ascot Gold Cup on 16th June 2011?
The Ascot Gold Cup is one of three races at Royal Ascot where the trophy is presented by Her Majesty The Queen. It traditionally forms the highlight of the Thursday of the meeting – known as ‘Ladies Day’
From a racing perspective, this contest is the most important staying race of the British flat season. It is run over the unusually long distance of 2 miles and 4 furlongs and attracts a mix of real staying types and former middle distance horses trying their hand over an extended trip.
It is fair to say that breeders these days tend not to regard stamina as the most desirable quality in a thoroughbred, yet when you look at the recent roll of honour for the Ascot Gold Cup, one name stands out like a beacon. That name is of course Yeats, who recorded an unprecedented four victories in the Gold Cup between 2006 and 2009. He, rather ironically, hailed from the most powerful breeding empire in the world, Coolmore Stud. Yeats was a son of one of the most important stallions of all time, the recently deceased Sadler’s Wells – and the 2011 renewal of the Gold Cup could well feature one of Sadler’s Wells’s most talented grandsons – another Aidan O’Brien trained Coolmore horse, Fame And Glory.
Like Yeats, Fame And Glory was a leading candidate for the Epsom Derby in his 3 year old campaign, but whereas Yeats missed that engagement, Fame And Glory finished a fine second to what is generally considered to be one of the greatest Derby winners of recent years, Sea The Stars. Fame And Glory enhanced his CV in subsequent races, winning the Irish Derby before again finding the mighty Sea The Stars too good in the Irish Champion Stakes. A feature of both Fame And Glory’s career at both 3 and 4 years is that he was very good, but just not quite good enough to beat the very best at middle distances – his 6th and 5th places in the Prix De L’Arc De Troimphe respectively summing the horse up. Fame And Glory possesses a terrific engine, but he just lacks that turn of foot to land the really big prize.
Then came the ownership twist. Fitri Hay, who also bought into Cape Blanco (who we saw finish 4th in the Dubai World Cup) also bought a significant interest in Fame And Glory – and the horse now runs in the name of Fitri Hay, Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor and Mrs Sue Magnier. Tabor, Smith and Magnier of course form the axis of the established Coolmore empire and there is probably now a fair amount of pressure on Fame And Glory in terms of Fitri and Dr Jim Hay’s future involvement with the operation. Cape Blanco came up a little short in Dubai but was then bitterly disappointing when a well beaten 4th in the Prix Ganay (a race where he really should have gone very close to winning).
The early signs for the new partnership have been difficult to evaluate. Fame And Glory’s first run in the Hay silks took place at Navan in the Vintage Crop Stakes over 1m5f. While the horse won well enough in the end, the form was nothing special and all his effort really told us was that Fame And Glory still retains a fair amount of ability. The key question with Ascot in mind is of course stamina and that is likely to remain an imponderable until the day of the race. What the horse does unquestionably possess is a great deal of class and he has attained a higher level on the track than the Yeats did in his middle distance career. That thought can only excite in terms of his potential as a stayer – and one has to hope that his next race (possibly the Coronation Cup on Derby Day) leads Aidan O’Brien and his owners to favour this great race as the main target for this season.
Next Week: How the Ascot Gold Cup fits into the British Champions Series
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