It was a case of bring out the old, bring in the new at York on the third day of the Ebor meeting as the veteran superstar stayer Stradivarius took the Lonsdale Cup in a pulsating finish while the three year old filly Winter Power stormed to success in the Group 1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes.
Both Stradivarius and jockey Frankie Dettori looked relaxed in the parade ring before the Lonsdale Cup, the firmer ground having caused connections to withdraw what looked likely to be his biggest rival Trueshan. Having flopped in the Ascot Gold Cup Stradivarius was on a bit of a retrieval mission and there were those who doubted that the champion had retained his former ability.
While he may not quite be the force of old there is no doubting Stradivarius’s battling qualities and when Spanish Mission, two years younger and on an upward curve, took him on two out the pair served up a battle royal that will not be forgotten by the large crowd for many a day.
Inside the final furlong Stradivarius was headed but he’s shown int the past that stamina is his forte and he battled back to edge ahead as they neared the line, holding off Spanish Mission by a head at the finish.
Jockey Frankie Dettori, who has enjoyed many great days aboard the horse, was emotional afterwards. “He’s getting older and wiser, so I don’t think you’ll see him winning by very far these days. But he got the job done. I was really choking up when he got an amazing reception. I love him so much.”
The sprinting division has seen different winners of all the Group 1’s this season and it was another new kid on the block, Tim Easterby’s Winter Power, who put herself in the frame for champion sprinting honours when winning the Nunthorpe by a length and a quarter. The race provided a one-two for Yorkshire based trainers as Emaraaty Ana finished ahead of Dragon Symbol to take second.
Easterby has always held the filly in high regard but said he’d been encouraged greatly by the way the filly had been thriving in the second half of the summer.
Winning jockey Silvestre D’Souza was clearly impressed by the filly’s blinding pace saying “She’s unbelievably fast. When she’s in that sort of form she’s unbelievable.”
Plans for Winter Power will depend on how she comes out of the race but on this sort of ground over the minimum trip she looks sure to be hard to beat.
