Frankie goes to Hollywood
Eight hundred lucky people, make that 800 lucky, rich people, will be making their way to the Dorchester Hotel tonight in central London. They have each paid £1,000 to attend the Frankie Dettori “retirement party”. When the Italian announced he was “unretiring” the other week and heading off to the States to ride from Boxing Day you could be forgiven for thinking those who shelled out a grand felt duped. Now, after Dettori’s magnificent denouement to his UK career in the Champion Stakes at Ascot today, they’ve got the best ticket in town.
I am lucky enough to have been involved in racing for the entirety of the great jockey’s time in this country. I became a full-time racing journalist in 1986 and Dettori rode his first winner a year later at Goodwood. At the end of the 80s on a trip to Ripon races I first saw Dettori ride a winner live. He came out of the weighing room afterwards as if he owned the place. It was clear that here was a new and exciting emerging talent – what was also clear was that he knew it. Showmanship has always been an integral part of the rider’s personality and that was on display again at Ascot this afternoon. It’s not the British way so it’s unlikely we’ll see the likes of him again on these shores and this was a fitting way to end this chapter of the remarkable rider’s life story.
Balmoral Handicap (4.25pm) result
1 The Gatekeeper 25/1
2 Ropey Guest 40/1
3 Docklands 7/1
4 Bopedro 10/1
Balmoral Handicap (4.25pm)
And they’re off … Awaal did not get out well … Dancing Magic has a good position … The Gatekeeper is up there … The Gatekeeper wins on the far side.
Updated
King Of Steel provided Frankie Dettori with the perfect send-off as they combined for a fairytale success in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.
Dettori said: “Absolutely insane, what a day! My last ride but in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, I have to pinch myself.
“I was struggling, I let him find his rhythm, what a superstar - well done to the team. I’m just shocked, incredible honestly. Thank you everyone, I love you, I’ll miss you.”
Full report below.
What scenes at Ascot after Frankie Dettori wins the Champion Stakes on his final ride in Britain.
"OHHHH FRANKIE DETTORI!"
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 21, 2023
Just look at the scenes at @Ascot 😍@FrankieDettori has raised the roof on QIPCO British Champions Day! 🙌#ChampionsDay pic.twitter.com/vOfjNOcKnQ
Updated
Balmoral Handicap (4.25pm) betting
Awaal 11/2
Docklands 8/1
Lattam 9/1
Sonny Liston 9/1
Al Mubhir 9/1
Baradar 12/1
Migration 14/1
Bopedro 14/1
Raadobarg 16/1
Coeur d’Or 16/1
18/1 BAR 20 runners
Full betting here via Oddschecker
Balmoral Handicap (4.25pm) preview
The traditional getting-out race at the end of Champions Day, although only the bookies were celebrating last year’s winner, Shelir, as he came home almost unbacked at 80-1. That was a slight aberration, though, as plenty of the winners in recent years have come from the top half-dozen or so in the betting, which is currently headed by Awaal, who has been running consistently well in both handicap and Listed company this season, at around 6-1. There is a decent case to made for at least two-thirds of the field, however, including Lattam, who was twice his current price of 10-1 when I tipped him on Friday afternoon. At those odds, I’m incined to leave him alone, or possibly add a small bet on the other one I was considering, Charlie Johnston’s The Gatekeeper, at a much more rewarding 25-1.
SELECTION: LATTAM
Champion Stakes (3.45pm) result
1 King Of Steel 3/1 f
2 Via Sistina 11/2
3 Horizon Dore 4/1
WOOTTON BASSETT's Gr. 1 Epsom Derby second King of Steel gets his first Group 1 victory in the Champion Stakes for @varianstable and @amoracingltd with FASTNET ROCK's Via Sistina in second. Bred by @BonneChanceFarm.#CoolmoreSires #HomeOfChampions https://t.co/VumPSZ3L59
— Coolmore (@coolmorestud) October 21, 2023
Updated
Champion Stakes (3.45pm)
And they’re off … Pont Lonsdale and My Prospero have the early lead … Bay Bridge is close up … King Of Steel with Dettori at the back … Horizon Dore challenges … but Via Sistina has the lead and here comes Frankie on King Of Steel late to win it!
Updated
Champion Stakes (3.45pm) betting
Bay Bridge 7/2
King Of Steel 7/2
Horizon Dore 4/1
Via Sistina 13/2
Dubai Honour 12/1
My Prospero 12/1
Royal Rhyme 14/1
Point Lonsdale 22/1
Full betting via Oddschecker here
Champion Stakes (3.45pm) preview
With Mostahdaf, John and Thady Gosden’s International Stakes winner, having been scratched due to the ground less than. two hours before the race, eight runners will now go to post for the richest race of the day, with £737,000 on offer to the winner. King Of Steel, Frankie Dettori’s final mount at Ascot – in 2023, anyway – is now the likeliest favourite, and both the trip and ground promise to be ideal for Roger Varian’s colt.
It is difficult to rule out any of his rivals with certainty, however, as even Point Lonsdale, the outsider of the field, has a very creditable record when the going is soft. Bay Bridge, last year’s winner on fairly similar ground, is an obvious candidate, and so too the French raider Horizon Dore, a three-year-old who has progressed by the race while winning his last four starts. Via Sistina is a Group One winner this year and another who won’t mind the ground, while My Prospero has at least a squeak of a chance if he can reproduce the form of his close third behind Bay Bridge 12 months ago.
SELECTION: KING OF STEEL
Hayley Turner made it safely to Ascot for British Champions Day after requiring a dramatic rescue from her flooded car on Friday.
The record-breaking rider is currently hunting down her 1,000th career victory and was hoping to arrive in Berkshire on 999 winners with a fancied ride on Docklands in the closing Balmoral Handicap.
Turner was expecting to ride Run Zarak Run at Redcar on Friday - but never made it to the north-east track after having to place an emergency call when her car was swamped in the midst of Storm Babet.
While Turner emerged unscathed, Run Zarak Run duly romped home under replacement PJ McDonald to add to her woes.
She told ITV Racing: “My dream was nearly in place, but I had a bit of an incident yesterday. Basically my car is floating down the Great North Road somewhere on my way to Redcar.
“I had to call 999 and get the fireman to come and rescue me - I actually got a fireman’s lift out of my car window! The horse then won about 15 lengths so a very frustrating day. I’m car-less and win-less as well.” PA Media
Updated
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.05pm) result
1 Big Rock 5/1
2 Facteur Cheval 4/1
3 Tahiyra 7/2
Finally Big Rock has come back to the winner’s enclosure pic.twitter.com/81YYoyyfpL
— Fergal O'Brien Racing (@FOBRacing) October 21, 2023
Updated
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.05pm)
And they’re off … Big Rock is away fast with Hi Royal in second … Chaldean is prominent … Tahiyra makes a challenge … Big Rock is well clear and wins easily.
Updated
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.05pm) betting
Paddington 15/8
Tahiyra 7/2
Nashwa 9/2
Big Rock 8/1
Chaldean 10/1
Facteur Cheval 16/1
33/1 BAR 11 runners
Latest prices via Oddschecker here
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (3.05pm) preview
Back to the straight course for the first of the day’s two £1m+ races, and a potentially decisive one for the trainers’ championship as Aidan O’Brien has only Point Lonsdale, the outsider of the field, to represent him in the Champion Stakes. He sends Paddington, the winner of four Group Ones already this season, into the fray, following a couple of months’ break after his one-and-a-quarter length defeat by Mostahdaf in the International Stakes at York. The return to a softer surface should definitely aid his cause, and a stiff, straight mile could prove ideal distance-wise too.
The Gosdens’ Nashwa, though, is sure to be a stern opponent, having run with considerable credit at Group One level on her last four starts, while Tahiyra, whose close second in the 1,000 Guineas in May is still the only defeat on her record, is very much in the reckoning too. It is, in all likelihood, between that trio, although Frankie’s mount, Chaldean, won the 2,000 Guineas on similar ground and Big Rock arrives from France on the back of three straight second-place finishes at Group One level.
SELECTION: PADDINGTON
Mostahdaf, one of the market leaders, has been withdrawn from the Champion Stakes (3.45pm) owing to the soft ground.
R5 @Ascot: MOSTAHDAF (IRE) declared NR due to Going
— BHA Stewards (@BHAStewards) October 21, 2023
Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (2.25pm) result
1 Poptronic 22/1
2 Bluestocking 6/1
3 Jackie Oh 3/1 f
WHAT A FINISH! 😲
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 21, 2023
Poptronic fends off all challengers to win the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes @Ascot for @karl_burke and Sam James!#ChampionsDay pic.twitter.com/GvuqNnVJsF
Updated
Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (2.25pm)
And they’re off … Red Riding Hood takes the lead as they jump out of the stalls … Poptronic takes over after a furlong … Stay Alert and Sweet Memories are at the back … Above The Curve is in a good position … they turn for home and Jackie Oh makes a move … Bluestocking finishing fast but Poptronic holds on.
Updated
Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (2.25pm) betting
Jackie Oh 9/2
Free Wind 5/1
Bluestocking 6/1
Time Lock 6/1
Rue Boissonade 8/1
Above The Curve 12/1
Running Lion 12/1
Sweet Memories 14/1
22/1 BAR 14 runners
Full prices here via Oddschecker
Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (2.25pm) preview
An interesting point for stats aficionados here is that all but two of the 10 runnings of this race since its upgrade to Group One status in 2013 have been won by three-year-olds, which tempers enthusiasm somewhat for Frankie Dettori’s mount, Free Wind, and also, though perhaps to a lesser extent, for Above The Curve, who does at least have a decent body of work to her name when there is cut in the ground. The suggestion, though, is that a top-class and still-improving three-year-old is likely to have the upper hand on the older horses in receipt of 6lb, and Aidan O’Brien’s Jackie Oh, a daughter of Galileo, fits the bill.
She is stepping up to a mile-and-a-half for the first time today but ran as though the extra two furlongs will see significant further improvement when going down only narrowly to Blue Rose Cen, the French Oaks winner, in the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp last time. Bluestocking, beaten half a length in the Irish Oaks on soft ground in July, is another three-year-old who merits close inspection, while Time Lock, making her debut at the highest level, bids to give Roger Charlton what would probably be the final Group One winner of an outstanding career before he hands over sole control of his licence to his son, Harry.
SELECTION: JACKIE OH
British Champions Sprint Stakes (1.50pm) result
1 Art Power 40/1
2 Kinross 5/4f
3 Spycatcher 11/1
Kinross and Dettori DENIED! Art Power fights back to win the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes at @Ascot under @dallan555! pic.twitter.com/SOwzJlSOyv
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 21, 2023
Updated
British Champions Sprint Stakes (1.50pm)
And they’re off … Art Power leads early with Swingalong … Kinross with Dettori in midfield … Run To Freedom is prominent … Kinross comes quickly to take it up …but is caught on the line by Art Power. Dettori just denied!
🏆 ART POWER GETS HIS GROUP ONE VICTORY!
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 21, 2023
The popular grey gets the better of Kinross and Frankie Dettori in a thrilling finish to the QIPCO British Champions Sprint at @Ascot!
A huge win for David Allan and @EasterbyTim 👏🏇#ChampionsDay pic.twitter.com/5McyZ3tGOd
Updated
British Champions Sprint Stakes (1.50pm) betting
Kinross 6/4
Sandrine 8/1
Mill Stream 9/1
Rohaan 10/1
Spycatcher 14/1
Vadream 16/1
Sense Of Duty 16/1
Believing 25/1
Saint Lawrence 25/1
33-1 bar
Full prices here via Oddschecker
British Champions Sprint Stakes (1.50pm) preview
No doubt about the key horse here either as Kinross is Frankie’s best chance of a winner on the card according to the betting and priced up, like Kyprios in the opener, at around 6-4. Unlike Kyprios, though, he has nothing like as much in hand of his field on Timeform’s ratings – he is 1lb in front of Sandrine and Vadream, and 2lb ahead of Art Power – but both his jockey and backers alike know that he can be relied on to run up to his best. His consistency is such, in fact, that Dettori likes to refer to him as his “cash machine”, but this is still a more open race than the betting might suggest and I have a sneaking suspicion that he might prefer seven furlongs to six in the very best company these days.
On that basis, I’d rather try to find an each-way alternative, and Mill Stream, with William Buick booked to ride, is a definite eye-catcher at around 12-1. Jane Chapple-Hyam’s three-year-old, who will be making only his 10thstart today, put up a career-best to win on soft ground at Deauville in August and while he was a bit below that form on much faster going in Haydock’s Sprint Cup, the return to an easier surface could well see him take another significant step forward.
SELECTION: MILL STREAM
Updated
Long Distance Cup (1.15pm) result
1 Trawlerman 9/1
2 Kyprios 11/10 f
3 Sweet William 17/2
Updated
Long Distance Cup (1.15pm)
And they’re off … Maxident takes the early lead with Kyprios close up and Trueshan towards the rear … Trawlerman moves up to second under Frankie Dettori … and the leader is making this staying race a good test … they are going to finish very tired here … with the front pair well clear … Trawlerman has the lead now … Kyprios comes out of the pack … and Trueshan is challenging …Kyprios kicks clear but Trawlerman wins for that man Dettori!
Wow! @FrankieDettori wins the opener on Qipco British Champions Day as Trawlerman rallies to beat Kyprios in the Long Distance Cup at @Ascot…
— Sky Sports Racing (@SkySportsRacing) October 21, 2023
pic.twitter.com/u9T1s3tn8b
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Those newspaper and magazine Q&As that litter the press invariably include the question who would you like to meet (living or dead)? So, billions of people to choose from for man-of-the-moment today Frankie Dettori – and he chose Silvio Berlusconi! In an article in today’s Daily Mail the jockey said: “This will make you laugh but I wouldn’t mind chatting to Silvio Berlusconi? I never met him. He was very controversial but an amazing man.”
Updated
Long Distance Cup (1.15pm) betting
Kyprios 6/4
Trueshan 5/2
Coltrane 7/1
Trawlerman 8/1
Sweet William 9/1
Broome 40/1
Stratum 80/1
Maxident 150/1
Find all the latest prices here at Oddschecker
Updated
Long Distance Cup (1.15pm) preview
All eyes are on Kyprios, last year’s Ascot Gold Cup winner, who went on to add three more Group Ones to his record in 2022 including an extraordinary 20-length win in the Prix du Cadran that deserves to be written as TWENTY-length, in true Vidiprinter style. He missed the first three-quarters of this year’s campaign due to injury, then returned to action at the Curragh in early September, finishing second when odds-on for the Irish St Leger. That was, on the face of it, a slightly underwhelming performance, but he was fully entitled to be short of his best after nearly a year on the sidelines and he will be very hard to beat if the outing has brought him on ahead of today’s race.
His main market rival is Trueshan, who is going for a four-timer in this race but is also one of the few runners on the card that might have been happier on heavy ground on the Round course. He also has 9lb to find with Kyprios on Timeform’s ratings, while Coltrane – last behind Trueshan in the Doncaster Cup last time – and the Gosdens’ Trawlerman, with Frankie Dettori wearing the royal blue colours of his former full-time employers Godolphin, have even more to make up on the numbers. This might well come down to a head-to-head between Kyprios and Trueshan and I’m going to fall in behind Kyprios, who is still just five years old and hopefully retains all of his potential to be one of the greatest stayers of recent decades.
SELECTION: KYPRIOS
Preamble
Good morning from Ascot racecourse in Berkshire, where a crowd of up to 30,000 is expected to watch £4.1m in prize money find a new home over the course of six races on Champions Day this afternoon. They will also be hoping to see Frankie Dettori perform at least one flying dismount on what is, by his account at least, his last day as a jockey in Britain.
The sum total of racing fans who actually believe that this is so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye is dwindling by the day, as close associates of Dettori over the years queue up to suggest that he will be back before you know it. But everyone will play along with the narrative and nostalgia-fest because, in the end, it would take a very miserable soul to sit it out.
The betting suggests fans will get at least one moment to acclaim their departing (for now) hero – it is roughly a 1-2 shot – but odds-on chances get beaten on a regular basis. And while only one of today’s events is a handicap, upsets are a familiar feature of Champions Day, when the summer code hands out several of its biggest prizes on what is generally either autumnal, or in some cases, winter ground.
There was actually just 0.2mm of rain overnight according to Chris Stickels, Ascot’s clerk of the course, but Storm Babet had already done its worst and the fact there were patches of heavy ground on the main Flat racing surface – the Round course - on Friday made a switch to the “Inner Flat” track – aka the hurdles course – inevitable. The hurdles course is not watered over the summer, which is one reason why it is significantly better than the Round course.
It is the parched, brown surface which you can see inside the rail in this YouTube video of Paddington winning the St James’s Palace Stakes in June. The going there is good-to-soft, soft in places, while it is soft on the straight course, which stages the Champions Sprint, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the concluding Balmoral Handicap.
As well as the inevitable focus on Dettori’s five rides, today’s racing could also have a significant say in the Flat trainer’s championship, in which John & Thady Gosden currently lead Aidan O’Brien by around £350,000. There are head-to-heads between the two rivals in several of the day’s Group Ones, including the Fillies’ & Mares’ Stakes, in which Jackie Oh (O’Brien) and Free Wind (Gosden pere et fils) are vying for favouritism, and the QEII, where O’Brien’s Paddington is an uneasy favourite at 9-4 and Nashwa is a 7-2 shot.
Previews of today’s six races will be along presently, an overview of the card is here, and you can, as ever, follow all the action as it unfolds on the live blog.
