Frankie Dettori stole the show at Royal Ascot on Thursday when he gave Colour Vision an inspired ride to win the Ascot Gold Cup.
The jockey chose his favourite racecourse to emphasise the enduring quality of his riding skills with a textbook performance aboard Godolphin’s Colour Vision.
Always well placed in a race run at a pedestrian gallop, Dettori drew every last ounce from his willing partner in a scrambling finish on rain softened ground.
He also surprised many when he chose to ride Colour Vision ahead of Opinion Poll who finished runner-up in the past two Gold Cup renewals and filled the same berth again.
Dettori will forever associated with Ascot as a result of his “magnificent seven” winners in 1996.
Much has changed in the intervening 16 years but the Italian remains at the top of his profession.
Mickael Barzalona, whose recruitment as Dettori’s understudy fanned rumours of the latter’s retirement, delivered Opinion Poll with a well-timed challenge to head Colour Vision inside the final furlong (200m).
But Dettori rallied his mount, bumping Barzalona in the process, before pulling away for a half-length triumph. Saddler’s Rock finished a neck behind Opinion Poll.
Although Dettori had to survive a stewards’ inquiry, the ebullient Italian was so confident he would keep the prize he performed his trademark flying dismount on reaching the winner’s enclosure.
“That was my best chance of the week,” Dettori said.
“It was very hard to choose between Colour Vision and Opinion Poll. Both are great warriors but I have finished the best, though only by a short margin. I’m delighted for the team and also for myself.”
Colour Vision’s victory also brought his trainer, Saeed Bin Suroor, to the prominence he enjoyed before Mahmood Al Zarooni, who saddled Opinion Poll, took over most of Sheikh Mohammed’s better horses two years ago.
The sheikh, meanwhile, was delighted to notch up his first championship triumph in Britain this year.
“To bring the horses here and finish first and second is a great thing,” he said.
The major disappointment of the race was Fame And Glory, who was attempting back-to-back Gold Cup victories.
Jamie Spencer launched his challenge down the outside but the six-year-old, who started an odds-on favourite, could finish only seventh.
