WEHAVEBECOMEaccustomed to getting hammered
by the Aussies at cricket 8211 and occasionally even rugby
8211 but for the second consecutive year at Royal Ascot the
Brits suffered the pain of having their noses rubbed
into the hallowed turf as the boys from Down Under
cleaned up in the King8217s Stand Stakes on the opening
day of what proved another magnificent Royal Meeting.
Fuelled by the historic Royal Ascot double from
Choisir in the King8217s Stand and Golden Jubilee Stakes
in 2003 and also victory from another globetrotter
in Hong Kong-trained Cape of Good Hope in the
latter race at York in 2005, the Aussies now make their
summer visit an annual pilgrimage, and, having taken
Ascot by storm yet again in 2006 courtesy of a 163500
throw-out in Takeover Target, they were back last June
with a four-horse raid for the sprint title.
And, not content with taking the King8217s Stand
Stakes for the third time in five years, the Aussies topped
up their celebrations by saddling three of the first four
home in this traditional dash for the speedballs, the only
interloper being Irish-trained runner-up Dandy Man.
With the winners of 12 Group 1 races in the
field, this was a Group 2 race in name only, but that
diminutive money-spinning mare Miss Andretti put
them all to the sword, prompting her legendary trainer
Lee Freedman to declare afterwards 8220that was even more
enjoyable than the Aussies beating England at Lord8217s!8221
Magnus and Takeover Target also did the southern
hemisphere proud in finishing third and fourth, but,
while Freedman had told us beforehand that the
versatile Miss Andretti had almost as much talent
as triple Melbourne Cup heroine Makybe Diva,
witnessing her clock a phenomenal 57.44s to beat
Takeover Target8217s course record for the five furlongs
by an amazing two and a half seconds rates one of
my greatest racing moments in more than four
decades in the sport.
Not surprisingly, Miss Andretti started 2-1 favourite
for the Golden Jubilee on the Saturday, but the Aussie
mare8217s daisy-cutting action was ideal for the fast ground
and when 7mm of rain fell on Thursday night and it
poured down again at lunchtime on Friday, Freedman
admits that he 8220feared the worst8221.
Only a decade ago the Golden Jubilee was a
Group 3 race, but for the last six years it has carried
Group 1 status and it is now an integral part of
the Global Sprint Challenge, which carries
a million-dollar bonus for any horse successful
in different countries in three of the five Group 1
races in the seven-race series.
10141ROYAL ASCOTMiss Andretti wins
The King's Stand Stakes10
ROYAL ASCOT 2008
The greatest race meeting in the worldp08-16 Review 2007.qxp:Layout 1 6/5/08 10:43 Page 10
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