Jockey Frankie Dettori and trainer John Gosden on Tuesday recorded their second piece of racing history in a matter of days as Stradivarius won a fourth Goodwood Cup, the opening day of the Qatar Goodwood Festival.
Stradivarius’s hard-fought victory could give Dettori a headache come the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 4, because Gosden said afterward that owner Bjorn Nielsen wants him to run in Europe’s most prestigious race in France, where he would meet the stable’s other star, Enable, who is bidding for a record third win in the race.
Dettori looked in trouble halfway down the straight of Tuesday’s Group One contest as he was blocked by a wall of four horses.
Photo: AFP / Dominic James
However, the 49-year-old Italian managed to get Stradivarius out of trouble and target the front-running Nayef Road and Irish Derby winner Santiago.
Once Dettori got upsides Santiago and Nayef Road, he and the three-time Ascot Gold Cup champion were not to be denied and eventually beat Nayef Road by a length.
Stradivarius’s record run comes after super mare Enable won a historic third King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
“What a horse,” said Dettori, who was winning the Goodwood Cup for a joint record fifth time.
“He was giving away over two stone to Santiago and made light of it... Everyone was racing to beat him and yet he still gets out and wins. He is an amazing horse.” Dettori said.
“Enable on Saturday, Stradivarius today — it is the stuff of dreams,” he added.
Gosden had said prior to the race that six-year-old Stradivarius faced the biggest challenge of his career due to the amount of extra weight he had to carry compared with the younger Santiago.
“He has great heart and is cool and relaxed. He is a horse you like to play along with the way he wants to do things — he is a great character,” Gosden said.
He said that Stradivarius could win in any style — his gritty display on Tuesday, which was his 16th win in 23 starts, contrasted with his 10-length romp to victory in the Ascot Gold Cup in June.
“He was flashy last time [at Ascot] and here, he had to grind it out. It was a little bit rope-a-dope,” Gosden said.
Stradivarius deserved to be talked about in the same bracket as the other great stayers of yesteryear, such as four-time Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats and three-time Goodwood Cup victor Double Trigger, Nielsen said.
“It is an amazing thing that Stradivarius turns up on my doorstep because I don’t have a big stable,” the South Africa-born naturalized American hedge-fund trader said.
“You have guys like Sheikh Mohammed with 500 horses and Coolmore with all their horses, how do I wind up with Stradivarius? There is a lot of luck involved, a lot of luck,” Nielsen said.
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