Darley July Cup 2011 - Royal Ascot winner Society Rock out with injury, James Fanshawe trained colt
Society Rock left the disappointment he suffered last year in the Royal Ascot behind by winning this year’s Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes at the Ascot on the last day of the royal meet.
The 25-to-1 favourite filled the runner-up position last time around, but this time with Pat Cosgrave on the bay colt’s back, the pair was triumphant by half a length and defeated Monsieur Chevalier.
Pat Cosgrave registered his first win in the royal festival. Australian Star Witness also competed in the Golden Jubilee Stakes and finished a respectable third.
It was a particularly satisfying day for jockey Pat Cosgrave as he landed his first ever win at the Royal Ascot and he crafted an expert run from beginning till end.
At last year’s outing, Cosgrave had to be content with the runners-up position behind Starspangledbanner but 12 months later came back with purpose and fire in his belly.
The jockey guided the James Fanshawe colt with a slow pace in the beginning setting his stare at the finish line he sat comfortably at the rear of the lot. With two furlongs remaining the jockey, colt communication was visual and both fizzed down the middle
and reached the wire just before the competitor, Monsieur Chevalier, beating him by half a length.
Society Rock was set to compete in the six furlongs Darley July Cup but was reported to be scratched out of the race due to a poisoned fore foot. The staff was able to get a shoe back on the four-year old bay colt but his absence in the Darley July Cup is
almost certain according to trainer, James Fanshawe.
The Group 1 possibilities for the Ascot winning colt are dim after sitting out the Darley July Cup. But there is a possibility of running the Group 1 Haydock Park Sprint, Prix Maurice de Gheest, and, maybe return to Ascot for Diadem on Champions Day.
There has always been a positivity around Society Rock as he is famous for adapting to any surface be it fast surfaces, or, soft surfaces, and, his unique versatility enables him to keep his options open to whatever may come.
Darley July Cup, which will commence on the 9th of July at July course, Newmarket United Kingdom, and has a purse of £400,000.
£227,080 goes to the winner, £86,080 for the runner-up, and, £43,080 for the third place finisher.
It is a turf surface with a distance of 6 furlongs, approximately 1200 meters, which will draw 20 horses, aged 3-years, and, upwards.
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