Colour Vision takes top honours in Gold Cup at Ascot
Frankie Dettori’s decision to ride Colour Vision turned out to be a good move, as he drove Saeed Bin Suroor’s charge to a comprehensive victory in the Gold Cup (British Champions Series), held at Royal Ascot on Thursday, June 21st.
The veteran jockey preferred Colour Vision over Opinion Poll, when he had to pick one of the two earlier this week. The decision worked in his favour, as Saeed Bin Suroor’s trainee crushed his fellow Godolphin runner by half a length to secure the top rank
in the Group 1 meeting.
On good to soft, the 6-1 chance chased the leader very well in the early stages of the race. Although he could not establish his dominance in the middle hours, he remained prominent all the way through.
His brilliant effort helped him become the leading runner a furlong before the finishing line. His connections had their heart in the mouth, when the runner lost his advantage inside the final 150 yards.
Rainbow Quest’s son recovered quickly and regained his lead inside the final 75 yards. After getting in command, the 4-year-old made no mistake, retaining his dominance till the winning post.
Under Mickael Barzalona, Opinion Poll broke well and was steady afterwards. The six-year-old came up with a serious challenge in the final moment and at one stage, he was in great position. However, Colour Vision did not let him spoil his party and snatched
the glory.
Saddler's Rock was also aiming for the second place, but Opinion Poll did well to secure the spot by a neck’s distance. Gulf Of Naples finished fourth, whereas Askar Tau managed to seize the fifth position.
Enormously delighted over his runner’s fine victory, Dettori said: "It was great. This was my best chance of the week. I had to make a very hard decision (to ride Colour Vision over Opinion Poll). They are both great horses and warriors and I finished up
the best, but only by a short margin.”
"I'm delighted for the team and myself as well. It's been a very hard week and I'm glad this one came up. It was great, we have a great team, and first and second is a great result," he added.
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