Clemmie Stars At HQ And Enable Blazes Into History Books
Clemmie The Cream Of Classic Candidates
Saturday saw Newmarket play host to one of its best late season cards, with the Group class contests providing early pointers towards next year’s Classics. Roaring Lion and U S Navy Flag posted smart efforts in winning the Royal Lodge and Middle Park Stakes respectively, but the big eye catcher was the Aidan O’Brien filly, Clemmie, who bolted up in the Cheveley Park Stakes.
It’s never the greatest surprise to see a Galileo win a major Group 1 prize, but until now, none had managed to do so at this 6f trip. A full sister to 2000 Guineas winner Churchill, Clemmie is now the 4/1 favourite for the 2018 1000 Guineas. O’Brien looks to have as firm a grip as ever on that event with the second and third favourites, Happily and Magical, also hailing from the Ballydoyle Operation.
Dolphin Delight For Martyn Meade
It may not have been the classiest event on the card, but when it comes to betting interest, there are few races to top the 30+ runner annual handicap puzzle that is the Cambridgeshire Handicap. Those to successfully solve the conundrum this year were richly rewarded as it was Martyn Meade’s 50/1 shot Dolphin Vista who stormed up the rail to record a famous success. Clearly having benefitted for his debut run for the yard last time out in a Class 2 at the track in August, the four year old bounced right back to his best under an excellent ride from George Wood.
With 100/1 and 50/1 shots filling second and third, it may be a while before we see the tri-cast dividend – a whopping £90,344.98 – for this race topped. Whilst – even accounting for the competitiveness of the event – this must go down as something of a shock result, the weekends big Group 1 contest went the way many expected it would……
Enable Electrifying Again In Arc
Having already established her total dominance in the 1m4f division on the domestic scene, Sunday saw the wonder filly Enable set her stiffest task to date as she lined up for the international showpiece which is the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly. Conquering the best of the best from around the world was a task no British trained three year old filly had achieved in the entire history of the contest, but then we have perhaps never had a three year old filly quite as good as this.
Pushed straight into a prominent position by Frankie Dettori, the threat of trouble in running in what is often a messy race was immediately erased, and for her 17 rivals the writing was on the wall some way from home. Approaching the 2f marker, Dettori simply couldn’t hold her up any longer and she quickly utilised her irresistible turn of foot to put the race to bed. Two and a half lengths was the winning margin as Andre Fabre’s Cloth Of Stars emerged from the pack to fill second spot, whilst Sir Michael Stoute’s Ulysses added some further gloss to what has been a fine season in third.
As Dettori Enters The Record Books.
For the imperious Enable this was a fifth consecutive Group 1 on the spin, and five was also the magic number for her clearly besotted jockey Frankie Dettori. Having sat in a seven way tie for the all-time lead amongst riders in this contest, Freddy Head, Jacques Doyasbère, Olivier Peslier, Pat Eddery, Thierry Jarnet and Yves Saint-Martin all now trail in Dettori’s wake as, much like his mount this year, the resurgent Italian moved out in front on his own.
Lammtarra, Sakhee, Marienbard and Golden Horn represent quite the talented quartet of previous winners for Dettori, but when the dust settles we suspect the history books may tell us that his 2017 heroine was the very best of them all.
