Aviate flies in Musidora Stakes for Henry Cecil
Henry Cecil and Barry Hills are two men cut from different cloth.
Cecil, the dandy whose peacock confidence of dress and style belies his inner insecurities, and Hills, the self-made man whose training career was founded on a life-changing bet more than 40 years ago, who has a character best summed up when an owner named a horse after him; Mr Combustible.
However, both have a steely core that has made them survivors in more ways than one. Cecil, who has been fighting stomach cancer for the last four years, had appeared to be consigned to the wilderness 10 years ago – a victim of changing times - but he has emerged in recent seasons with a full house at his Warren Place stables and now potential runners for both the Derby and Oaks.
The latest to be added to that list was Aviate who won the Group Three Tattersalls Musidora Stakes at York for one of Cecil’s long-standing owners, Prince Khalid Abdullah, although there were moments when the filly appeared as if she would have to sprout wings to win.
In the home straight Bikini Babe led from the favourite, Cabaret, who was in turn tracked by Eleanora Duse. Eddie Ahern, replacing the suspended Tom Queally, was already showing the first signs of unease on Aviate, who was trapped in pocket on the rail. An attempt to weave a path between the weakening Cabaret (another disappointing run from an Aidan O’Brien-trained horse) and Eleanora Duse was brought to a halt.
Ahern then switched inside when Cabaret dropped away but both Eleanora Duse and Gold Bubbles had vital momentum, something Aviate was further denied as she then had to negotiate another gap between Eleanora Duse and the faltering Bikini Babe with less than a furlong to run.
A hundred yards out Aviate was an unlucky loser, 50 yards out she was the moral victor and 10 yards out she had nailed Gold Bubbles to win by a head, with Eleanora Duse three-quarters of a length away in third. Perhaps Ahern rode Aviate a little conservatively, as there had been some doubts about her stamina, but he was the first to admit that he had been the recipient of a liberal does of good fortune in riding a filly with a true change of pace. “When they quickened I was in a little bit of trouble, but most of the trouble was that I wasn’t getting the gaps,” he said. “She got me out of trouble and then I was thinking I’d got beat, but switched her back to the inside and she’s picked up real well. Definitely the trip wasn’t a problem.”
Cecil was in playful mood as he stood in the winner’s enclosure with the ninth Musidora winner of his career. “They should have really spread out and let me come through. Then we’d have seen what she really was,” he said, adding with tongue so firmly in cheek that it almost required medical extraction: “She didn’t interfere with anyone else did she?” - a reference to the demotion of Jacqueline Quest who had finished first past the post in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket earlier this month.
“We ran her to see if she stays and I thought she could stay because she’s got a Nijinsky cross [in her pedigree] so you have a bit of stamina. So she’s decent – she looks as if she’ll stay.”
Whether that stamina will be put to use in the Investec Oaks, Prix de Dianne or Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot remains to be decided. Aviate runs in the same colours as Timepiece who, despite being beaten in the Oaks Trial at Lingfield Park on Saturday, is a filly in whom Cecil retains unshakeable belief and is still baffled by the fact that she has been beaten in her first two starts this year.
That is partly due to her work at home where she has had the better of Bullet Train who won the Derby Trial at Lingfield. His participation in the Derby is clouded by the plans for Workforce, another Abdullah-owned colt trained by Sir Michael Stoute, who runs in the totesport.com Dante Stakes. Regarding the prospects of trying to win the Derby for the first time since Oath in 1999, Cecil said: “We’ll see – it’s open. The prince, if he thought he should have two horses in the Derby, he would probably run them. I haven’t put Bullet Train back into work yet and we’ll see how it pans out.”
Another decision that the prince will have to make is whether to run Special Duty in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches at Longchamp on Sunday. The filly, who is trained in France by Criquette Head, was awarded the 1000 Guineas in the stewards’ room at Newmarket and Teddy Grimthorpe, the owner’s racing manager, said: “Prince Khalid is travelling so I’ve got to speak to him. We’re looking at the ground and I’ve got to speak to Criquette as well. She’ll probably give her a spin and we have to make up our mind by Friday.”
It is doubtful if Barry Hills ever has trouble making up his mind and he has been just as determined during his battle with throat cancer that kept him off the racecourse for much of last year. But he was a welcome sight on the Knavesmire to watch Prime Defender win the Group Two Duke Of York Blue Square Stakes. “He knows more about the game than all of us,” Hills said. “He’d run in 19 Group races without winning one but he’s a good horse on his day. You just have to catch him right.”
Perhaps horse and trainer are cut from the same cloth?
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