All involved with UK flat racing felt the departure of Frankie Dettori to the USA to some degree. Fans certainly miss the effervescent Italian, whilst the sport could do with his pulling power amid a financially challenging year. Among the training fraternity, nowhere has his absence been more notable than in the Newmarket yard of John & Thady Gosden.
The Gosden/Dettori relationship had its ups and downs, but the pair invariably ironed out their differences to rack up an impressive tally of Group 1 successes.
Big Shoes to Fill for Kieran
Change is an inevitable part of the racing game, and, with Dettori setting off to make hay on the US racing scene, a new man was required to step up to the challenge of riding the Gosden runners in the highest-profile races. That man was Kieran Shoemark. So far, the partnership hasn’t gone quite as well as hoped.
During 2023, John & Thady Gosden picked up nine Group/Grade 1 victories – seven of which were ridden by Dettori during his golden farewell to the British racing scene. So far in 2024, that top-level tally stands at just 1, with the Robert Havlin-ridden Audience providing the sole Group 1 success in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
The relationship with Shoemark has borne some fruit, with the rider partnering Friendly Soul to Listed and Group 3 success and Lead Artist to the Group 3 Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, but, in Group 1 contests, he and his mounts have always come up short.
How much of that lack of success is down to the jockey, and how much is a result of a lower standard of horse than in 2023 is a difficult question to answer. However, it now appears that some of those connected with the Gosden yard are ready to try something different – at least in the case of one of their star performers.
What Has Happened to Inspiral?
Whilst the new three-year-olds in the yard may simply not be of the calibre of Oaks heroine Soul Sister, the performance of other runners has been more puzzling. The horse that has the Gosdens scratching their heads more than most is Inspiral.
Sired by the greatest of all time, Frankel, this Cheveley Park Stud-owned star was rarely away from the Group 1 winners enclosure in each of her first three seasons – landing the Fillies Mile in 2021, Coronation Stakes and Jacques Le Marois in 2022, and the Jacques Le Marois, Sun Chariot Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf in 2023, with Dettori in the saddle each and every time.
Having ended 2023 on such a hot streak, connections entered 2024 with high hopes that Inspiral would prove up to plundering more Group 1 glory. So far, that hasn’t been the case. Sent off as the 2/1 favourite for the Lockinge Stakes, she managed only a 13-length fourth behind Audience. The Prince Of Wales’s Stakes didn’t go any better, with the mare putting in a one-paced effort to finish sixth to Auguste Rodin.
Was Shoemark to Blame?
When watching this season’s efforts back, it is difficult to lay the blame at the feet of her rider. Inspiral was, admittedly slow into stride in both events, but that has often been the case throughout her career. Previously, that hold-up style had appeared to be a deliberate tactic, allowing Inspiral to come with an electric finishing burst in the straight. That was nowhere more evident than in that Breeders’ Cup triumph.
This season, that electricity has failed to spark, with the most notable feature of Inspiral’s defeats being her uncharacteristically weak finishing efforts. Is she simply not the horse she was? Or, for whatever reason, is she refusing to put her best hoof forward with Shoemark in the saddle? Cheveley Park Stud are opting to test that latter theory.
Ryan Moore to Ride in Jacques Le Marois
It is, of course, the owner’s prerogative to decide who rides their horses, and Cheveley Park Stud have opted to give Inspiral the assistance of the best in the business, with Ballydoyle number one, Ryan Moore, now confirmed to take the ride in the Group 1 Jacques Le Marois at Deauville on Sunday afternoon.
Breaking: Ryan Moore will ride Inspiral in Sunday’s Prix Jacques Le Marois, live on Sky Sports Racing!
Via @nickluck pic.twitter.com/yiCCSvQr0L
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 8, 2024
If ever there was a race for Inspiral to rediscover her best form, it is surely this 1m contest. Too good for a field including the ill-fated 2000 Guineas champ Coroebus in 2022, she followed up when swooping past the subsequent Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Big Rock to claim the 2023 edition.
In a field stacked with Group 1 winners, Inspiral will need to leave this season’s efforts well behind, but if anyone can get a tune out of her, the magician Moore may be the man for the job. All eyes on Deauville.
