On the day King Charles III had his first Royal Ascot winner, the 'king of Ascot' Frankie Dettori starred with a final fairytale victory in the Ascot Gold Cup on Courage Mon Ami (15-2).
The popular Italian jockey is retiring from the saddle at the end of the year and fittingly grabbed victory in the Group One feature of the five-day extravaganza at Ascot – a place where he has had so many of his greatest triumphs. While his famous Magnificent Seven – when Dettori won all seven races on the card at Ascot – wasn't at the Royal meeting, his exploits at the Berkshire track are so legendary that he has a statue of his famous flying dismount near the entrance to the course. He so wanted to have success in his final Royal Ascot – and having get the monkey off his back on his 13th ride of this year's meeting with the John and Thady Gosden-trained Gregory's win in the Queen's Vase yesterday – he grabbed Golden glory on a sun-drenched afternoon.
Partnering the Gosdens' Courage Mon Ami – who was only having his fourth career start – Dettori was at his magnificent best. The four-year-old gelded son of Frankel, who has won his first three starts, most recently in a handicap at Goodwood, was always well placed settled in rear off the pace set by Charlie Johnston's Subjectivist (9-2) – who was only having his third start since winning the Gold Cup two years ago. But Dettori played the waiting game on the inside rail. But when he asked Courage Mon Ami to move through the field he challenged 11-4 favourite Coltrane, under Oisin Murphy, up front. But it was Dettori and Courage Mon Ami who had the best finishing kick and they scored by three-quarters-of-a-length form Coltrane with Subjectivist staying on for a brave third three-and-three-quarters-of-a-length back. Aidan O'Brien's Emily Dickinson (11-1), under Ryan Moore, was a further head adrift in fourth.
The red, purple and gold royal colours were carried to glory for the first time at Royal Ascot for the new King and Queen when William Haggas' Desert Hero, under Tom Marquand, won the King George V Stakes earlier in the day. But Dettori upstaged that with a win he will savour more than most. It was his ninth Gold Cup victory 21 years on from his first with Drum Taps. After another flying dismount in the winner's enclosure, the 52-year-old rider, who was landed a 79th Royal Ascot winner, said: "Unbelievable! I thought it was a bridge too far from handicaps, but I had the perfect race. He's still a baby, but when Coltrane (runner-up) came back he picked up again. I can't hear myself talking (amid cheers from the crowd).
“I didn’t expect it. The last five years I’ve had Stradivarius, so the pressure was on. This one I thought was a bit of a chancer coming from handicaps, but John was confident. I rode him cold and it just happened – I got the splits when I wanted to and he showed a turn of foot. The last half a furlong, I couldn’t give in to Oisin, I thought: ‘no, we’ve got this far, please keep going’. It’s unbelievable, on my last year winning the Gold Cup. Myself, The King and Queen Camilla had a talk beforehand talking about his win and my relationship with his mother, Queen Elizabeth, then the next race I go on and win the Gold Cup and he presents the trophy. Amazing, really amazing.
“I wanted to ride him to run well, because I really don’t know the horse and I didn’t know his capability or if he was able to stay. I knew there would be pace, I wanted to swing out wide but Stéphane kept me in and actually won me the race, because I thought: ‘I’ll cut the corner and see what happens’. Then it happened! Nine Gold Cups, what can you say – amazing. I’m speechless because I didn’t expect it, to be honest with you.”
On receiving the Gold Cup from The King, having received it previously from the late Queen, he added: “It’s my last year, so this is the only chance I had. It’s pretty emotional. (The King) is a lovely man and Camilla is lovely and it is an honour to be able to ride for them [in other races] and to win the Gold Cup and be presented with the trophy (by them).
"I didn’t believe it, to go from a handicap to a Gold Cup. But John Gosden is a great trainer and he does things like that, sometimes if I don’t believe it, I’ll just go along with it!”
On taking his children up onto the podium with him, he said: “I said: ‘listen, we won the Gold Cup, we can go up there and shake hands with The King’, so it’s a great thrill for them. Now they are old enough to understand. For the last 18 years, they’ve just thought I was a guy on the TV, maybe like Peppa Pig or something! So they really know what I’m doing.”
John Gosden said: "You can't practice two and a half miles at home, but he stayed cool and rode him cool in the dark down the inside, saving every inch. I saw he went to go outside turning into the straight and they said no, go back in, and luckily he managed to wriggle through and found a great run. He's a lovely horse who was bred by Mr (Anthony) Oppenheimer who sold him. It costs a great deal of money for English breeders to keep their studs going. He's a gelding by Frankel, he's unbeaten, but he's gone from the all-weather to Goodwood to here, so full achievement to the horse."
Asked about sending Courage Mon Ami to Ascot for just a fourth fourth start, Gosden said: "I don't think I'll try it again. Richard Brown [bloodstock agent] has done a very clever job – he was asked to find horses to come to Royal Ascot. They are hard to buy but both horses he found (Gregory, winner of Tuesday's Queen's Vase, and Courage Mon Ami) were owner/breeder horses. The costs of keeping a stud going means owners have to sell, but Mr Oppenheimer is here and, of course, Mrs (Philippa) Cooper of Normandie Stud (who bred Gregory). It's tough to run a stud and pay the stallion nominations and the whole deal, so they have to sell. They keep the fillies and sell the colts. A great ride for Frankie. It crowns his week – he's only good in long-distance races now!
"He's had a phenomenal career. Thirty years we've been working together on and off. We've had one argument in 30 years. How many marriages can say that? We patched that up after five days and were winning Group Ones in Deauville straight after that – we had a disagreement, that's fine, that's professional, and we kicked on after that. Look at the result today."
