ROYAL ASCOTBelow:
Ramonti, ridden
by Frankie Dettori, wins
The Queen Anne StakesAbove:
Gold Cup winner Yeats
races to victorythe Eclipse at Sandown, while Sir Percy, the Blue
Riband hero at Epsom from 2006, had his limitations
exposed as he struggled home in last place. No wonder
this race was described as a 8216connoisseur8217s delight8217,
which whetted the appetite for the rest of the season.
However, while Monsieur Fabre thoroughly
deserved the accolades that went his way after
Manduro8217s demolition job, the training performance
of the meeting undoubtedly went to Aidan O8217Brien,
who achieved an unprecedented one-two-three in the
Group 1 St James8217s Palace Stakes, with Jamie Spencer
bringing Excellent Art from last to first to beat Duke
of Marmalade and Astronomer Royal, with Geoff
Huffer8217s admirable English and Irish 2,000 Guineas
winner Cockney Rebel only fourth, having injured
his pelvis.
O8217Brien had hoped that his 2006 Guineas winner
George Washington, returning from an unsuccessfulstint at stud, would win the Group 1 Queen Anne
Stakes the same day, but Gorgeous George was
inevitably race-rusty after having his attentions
diverted elsewhere and he could finish only fourth
behind Ramonti, who proved to be the undoubted
star of Godolphin8217s season.
Ramonti needed the full Frankie Dettori
8220kitchen-sink8221 finish to reel in Jeremy, but he was
a colt who only ever did enough, and, after his
8216Royal8217 celebration, he went on to demonstrate
that he was one of the toughest horses ever to have
carried the Godolphin blue silks when twice beating
Excellent Art 8211 in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood
and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes back at Ascot
8211 before stepping up to a mile and a quarter to
sign off in memorable style with a fabulous farewell
victory in the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin.
However, come Gold Cup Day and it was
1014114
ROYAL ASCOT 2008
The greatest race meeting in the worldp08-16 Review 2007.qxp:Layout 1 6/5/08 10:43 Page 14
Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32Page 33Page 34Page 35Page 36Page 37Page 38Page 39Page 40Page 41Page 42Page 43Page 44Page 45Page 46Page 47Page 48Page 49Page 50Page 51Page 52Page 53Page 54Page 55Page 56Page 57Page 58Page 59Page 60Page 61Page 62Page 63Page 64Page 65Page 66Page 67Page 68Page 69Page 70Page 71Page 72Page 73Page 74Page 75Page 76Page 77Page 78Page 79Page 80Page 81Page 82Page 83Page 84Page 85Page 86Page 87Page 88Page 89Page 90Page 91Page 92Page 93Page 94Page 95Page 96Page 97Page 98Page 99Page 100Page 101Page 102Page 103Page 104Page 105Page 106Page 107Page 108Page 109Page 110Page 111Page 112Page 113Page 114Page 115Page 116Page 117Page 118Page 119Page 120Page 121Page 122Page 123Page 124Page 125Page 126Page 127Page 128Page 129Page 130Page 131Page 132Page 133Page 134Page 135Page 136Page 137Page 138Page 139Page 140Page 141Page 142Page 143Page 144Page 145Page 146Page 147Page 148 Produced by PageSuite