Casamento wins Racing Post Trophy
Saturday’s Group 1 Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster was won by the pre-race odds-on favourite Casamento. The Michael Halford-trained horse was ridden by jockey Frankie Dettori with 11/4 odds. Halford called their victory beforehand after a fantastic prep
week. It was the horse’s last race with Halford as trainer.
"Everything has gone like clockwork and I would not swap him for anything. We've liked him from the start and his main attributes are his wonderful temperament and high cruising speed," said Halford. “It's a wonderful feeling and he's been a great horse
to have all the way through, he was never a moment's bother."
Casamento will be teaming up with the Godolphin operation in Dubai and will be targeting the 2011 Epson Derby. In light of the victory, William Hill cut the odds from 14 to 8 for the horse’s bid at next year’s 2,000 Guineas.
The horse beat the unbeaten Dunboyne Express, who rode at 7-2, and two fellow Irish horses Native Khan at 8-1 and Titus Mills at 10-1, as well as Aiden O’Brien-trained horses Seville and Master of Hounds, at 13-2 and 7-1 respectively. Dettori stuck to the
heels of the long-shot Dubawi Gold, who led for most of the race, and only let out the stops in the last two furlongs.
"He's a lovely big horse with plenty of strength and a lot of presence,” said Dettori. “The race went as planned. I had watched videos of him and knew that he'd get the trip well, so about two and a half furlongs out I let him go. We were in the middle and
he idled before Seville came and his challenge helped me along."
Dunboyne Express barely tried to attack, but the two O’Brien horses were well placed to stop Casamento. Jockey Johnny Murtagh and Master Of Hounds nearly caught the horse one furlong from the finish but Casamento never let up. Seville crossed the finish
line ¾ lengths ahead of the winner. Master Of Hounds was two lengths behind for an Irish 1-2-3 finish.
Zaidan, Toolain and Karam Albaari completed the ten-horse field behind Casamento. Native Khan-trainer Ed Dunlop has named Casamento as the likely winner but was confident enough to line up his horse, paired with jockey Paul Hanagan, and put Native Khan’s
until-then unbeaten record on the line. The colt was originally lined up for the Dewhurst Stakes but was removed from that race to train for the Racing Post Trophy.
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