MEADE THRILLED WITH FIRST ROYAL SUCCESS
After Advertise beat only one home in the 2,000 Guineas, Martyn Meade shut his stable down for a month due to concerns about the health status of his team, but that was put behind today by Meade as Advertise 8/1) regained winning form back over six furlongs to win the Commonwealth Cup (G1) by a length and a quarter.
It was the Manton Estate-based trainer’s first Royal success.
“He was pretty special over six furlongs last year, but the problem was I had trained him to run the mile and getting him switched off we thought how do we jazz him up again so maybe put the blinds on, just so he knows he has to sprint,” said Meade. “Luckily, it did the job as he jumped and went. Clearly that demonstrates that this is his distance, if we can step him up a bit then clearly we will.
“It has been a difficult year, the horses were running very flat to start with, a good example was Advertise in the Guineas – it was so disappointing as we went here with high hopes. We were always a little bit worried whether he would get the mile or not, but certainly we thought he would run better. Then you’ve got to pull up stumps, but it is really difficult with a yard full of horses.
“It shows we are back! From our point of view we had a couple of really good runners, then you have confidence going again, inevitably you have a few who don’t run to expectations, the main thing you have to target these things go for it and hope everything works out on the day.
“Coming into today we had absolutely nil confidence, you never know despite how well they are working at home!
“It’s huge elation – to win a G1 at Royal Ascot, it doesn’t get much better than that – but there is certainly relief because the horses have been a little but under par. It’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
“He only had one bad run in all fairness, in the Guineas, but it is very easy today – everybody writes horses off pretty quickly and think “he has run poorly, maybe he didn’t train on” and all that sort of thing.
“I have always had great faith in him. I thought let’s go back to basics, where we were before over six furlongs. We know that he is brilliant at that, so if I can just reproduce what he was doing as a two-year-old, that shouldn’t be a problem.
“Getting Frankie back on board was not too difficult – he knows how good the horse is. It was just lucky that he was available to ride him.
“I did think “what is Frankie doing now?” because I thought he hit the front too soon, but this is Frankie – he knows exactly what he is doing and what sort of horse he has underneath him. Clearly he had the confidence that all was going well. I am thrilled to bits about it.
“We might step him up a little and go to France for the Maurice de Gheest. Maybe seven furlongs but I like to take baby steps – maybe he would get a mile one day, who knows? At this stage will keep him around six and we have a few options now. At least he is back on everybody’s radar and we can look and see where the best place to send him is.”
DETTORI ADVERTISES BRILLIANCE IN COMMONWEALTH CUP
Everything he seems to touch this week has turned to gold and that was the case again for Frankie Dettori at Royal Ascot this afternoon as he registered his seventh victory of the Royal Meeting aboard 8/1 shot Advertise in the £500,000 G1 Commonwealth Cup.
Trained by Martyn Meade, the three-year-old son of Showcasing captured the fifth running of the six-furlong sprint by a length and a half over the Aidan Fogarty-trained Forever In Dreams (20/1) in second.
Dettori, the 48-year-old racing legend, rode a 449/1 four-timer at Royal Ascot yesterday and was narrowly denied a fifth win in the Britannia Handicap. His winners this week have been Raffle Prize (G2 Queen Mary Stakes), Crystal Ocean (G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes), A’Ali (G2 Norfolk Stakes), Sangarius (G3 Hampton Court Stakes), Star Catcher (G2 Ribblesdale Stakes), Stradivarius (G1 Ascot Gold Cup) and now Advertise.
Dettori, recording his 67th winner at the Royal Meeting overall, said: “I am so pleased for Martyn, he has been having a tough time.
“Advertise ran a stinker in the Guineas and he decided to close his stables for a month as he knew his horses weren’t right. It has paid dividends.
“He was patient and it’s very hard when you have horses and you can’t run them. We came here hoping, we weren’t so sure that we were out of the woods, but Advertise put up a tremendous performance.
“I was always in control and travelled like the winner. When I kicked, he went and it was brilliant. He is back to his best.
“Advertise always relaxed in his races for me and he has gone a little the other way, that’s is why he has got blinkers, just to keep him focused. He was a very good two-year-old and I am pleased for all the connections.
“This morning, when I woke up, I felt he had a chance on last year’s form but it has been a long time since that form was franked. I am pleased that he has put that to bed today and won.”
Betfred make Advertise a 10/1 shot from 25/1 for the July Cup at Newmarket.
PHOENIX LADIES IN DREAMLAND
A filly who was bought for £430,000 at Goffs’ London Sale on Monday evening proved that was money well spent when Forever In Dreams finished second in the G1 Commonwealth Cup for three-year-olds over six furlongs.
Her valuation is now well ahead of that purchase price, but no less importantly she provided the fledgling Phoenix Ladies’ Syndicate with a fabulous entrée to European racing. Created last year, as a division of Phoenix Thoroughbreds, it enjoyed success in Dubai during the winter, and decided it was ready to spread its wings outside of the Emirates.
The syndicate is headed Pamela Cordina, who was born in Malta and lives in Dubai. Ironically, the horse who beat Forever In Dreams (20/1) today, Advertise (8/1), is owned by Phoenix Thoroughbreds, the brainchild of Amer Abdulaziz. He won by one and a half lengths, and there was a further head back to third-placed Hello Youmzain (6/1). In fourth was the evens-favourite Ten Sovereigns.
Forever In Dreams was bred by Con Marnane, and raced by him until Monday evening. Initially his filly was trained by Matthieu Palussiere in France, and she was seventh in last year’s Windsor Castle Stakes, but only a length and a quarter behind the winner. She was then switched to Aidan Fogarty’s stable in the spring, and he saddled her to win the Listed Cecil Frail Stakes before her sales’ ring appearance.
Fogarty, who is based in Bansha, between Cashel and Tipperary town, said: “That was brilliant – my first Royal Ascot runner. I’m delighted for myself and the Phoenix teams who own this filly and the winner.
“It suited me when Con asked me to train her – I’m a Jump trainer who has some pointers, and a few Flat horses, but nothing else as good as this filly. She was fifth in a Listed race at Cork on her first start for me, and then she won at Haydock. I’ve had just two runners in Britain, and she was both of them.
“It would be lovely to keep her, but it will be up to her new owners.”
Ms Cordina said: “It’s a pinch-me moment. I’m in a daze and very happy. I was at the sale on Monday – we had studied her page, and noticed there was a lot of black type in her family and a lot of sprinters.
“The Phoenix Ladies were looking for a horse like this and I’m so glad we bought her. This was the first horse to race outside of Dubai, and what a place to start.”
Bruce Raymond, representing Jaber Abdullah, the owner of Hello Youmzain, said: “He’s still maturing and there is a lot more to come, including races like the Haydock Sprint Cup. He’s better on soft ground and he wants taking care of, because I think he’s going to be an even better four-year-old, when he will be fully mature.”
Aidan O’Brien, the trainer of Ten Sovereigns, said: “I’m pleased with that because it was his first run since the Guineas and he ran well given that he was dropping back in trip. The July Cup is a possible.”
His jockey, Ryan Moore, said “It was Ten Sovereigns’ first run back at six. I think he will come forward for the run. It was a bit messy for him, but he will go the right way from that.”
COMMONWEALTH CUP RESULT
Third race, 3.40pm: Commonwealth Cup (Group 1), 6f
1 Advertise (Phoenix Thoroughbreds Limited) Martyn Meade 3-9-03 Frankie Dettori 8/1
2 Forever In Dreams (Phoenix Ladies Syndicate) Aidan Fogarty IRE 3-9-00 Oisin Murphy 20/1
3 Hello Youmzain (Jaber Abdullah) Kevin Ryan 3-9-03 Kevin Stott 6/1
Evs fav Ten Sovereigns (4th)
9 ran
Time: 1m 11.88s
Distances: 1½, hd
Tote Win: £8.75 Places: £2.20, £4.30, £1.90 Exacta: £152.90
Breeding: b c Showcasing (GB) – Furbelow (GB) (Pivotal (GB))
Breeder: Cheveley Park Stud Ltd
Martyn Meade – 1st Royal Ascot winner
Frankie Dettori – 67th Royal Ascot winner