Borderlescott flies in King George Stakes
For everyone who creaks just a little more getting out of bed each morning the victory for Borderlescott at Goodwood proves that there is no such thing as too old.
The veteran sprinter became the oldest winner, at the age eight, of the Group Two Audi King George Stakes. Starfish Bay, the first American-trained runner at Goodwood, was expected to blast from the front for Frankie Dettori. But Todd Pletcher’s filly could never get to the front as Captain Dunne and Moorhouse Lad set scorching fractions.
But Kieren Fallon was biding his time just off the pace and brought Borderlescott, who was appearing at the meeting for the sixth time, with a late burst to beat the fast-finishing Group Therapy by a half-length, with Astrophysical Jet a head away in third. The drama of the race came from Triple Aspect, running down the stands’ rail and was still in contention until his saddle began to slip.
His jockey, Liam Jones, managed to kick his feet out of the irons and, almost miraculously, was still trying to ride a race going into the last furlong until he finally lost the battle with gravity. Jones walked away from the incident but it was later revealed that he had suffered a suspected broken collarbone and was taken to hospital for further examination.
Robin Bastiman had booked Fallon, after regular jockey Neil Callan had been suspended, and the rider said: “He’s been a great servant to the Bastiman family and quite a few different jockeys. I was delighted to get the ride today and he made it easy for me. I was stuck in behind, in a little bit of a pocket. I had to wait for a stride before I could switch and, when I got a run down the outside, and he got home quite comfortably at the finish.
“You wouldn’t think he’s been in a race? He doesn’t use any gas at all. He’s so totally switched off, I nearly had to push him down to post, whereas most sprinters are using most of the energy even before the race. But as soon in the gate he knows he’s got a race on his hands and he lights up.”
His trainer almost lights up at the mention of this gelding’s name. Borderlescott - whose previous efforts at Goodwood have included a win and two places in the Stewards’ Cup- has won the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes for the last two years. But he had not won this season and had looked a little below form when he was third in a Listed race at Chester three weeks ago, which his trainer believes was a case of the horse finding it all just a little too easy. “He’s just an unbelievable horse,” Bastiman said. “He’s eight now and you’re thinking when’s he going to lose that bit of dash.
“But he comes to hand at this time of year and he’s just getting better and better. I think he’s got to run against top-class horses and a fast pace. Because he does the same, he tends to idle when he hits the front. But the engine’s still there – bring the Nunthorpe on.
“He just has this will to win and I can’t wait for the Nunthorpe now. I saw Equiano in the July Cup and he’s a superb horse, a real gutsy animal, but we’ll have to take him on at York and hopefully he can give us a nice lead. I’m sorry for Neil, who missed the ride because he got a one-day ban at a Micky Mouse meeting, which seems very unfair. I’ll have to talk to the owner about who rides at York, maybe we’ll just have to toss a coin to decide.”
The sad postcript to the race was that Borderlescott was found to be lame behind and no decision about whether he will run again this season has been taken.
Mark Johnston has been champion trainer at Glorious Goodwood seven times previously but it took until halfway through the third day’s card for the trainer to saddled his first winner with Eastern Aria.
The filly, who was winning at Goodwood for the third time in as many starts, won the Group Three Moet Hennessy Fillies’ Stakes ridden by Richard Hills.
“Everyone was asking me what my best chance was and I had a lot of runners in handicaps over the first couple of days but we were at the mercy of the handicapper so it’s amazing to get the first win in a Group race,” said Johnston, who is now just two short of 50 winners at this meeting.
“This filly was the most improved horse in my yard last season by a long way. She went from being a handicapper in the mid-70s to finishing fourth in a Group One. I had big hopes for her at the start of this year and made lots of big entries but had to scrap them all. I thought she would be running in Group Ones by now but she had just not been firing at all but now she can have some good entries again.
“I’d like to run her over a mile-and-a-half in the Canadian International at the end of the year but I’m not sure what we will do in between.”
http://www.senore.com/Illustrious-Blue-the-local-hero-in-Goodwood-Cup-a19246http://www.senore.com/Beachfire-cracks-Summer-Vase-a19230
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