Stradivarius duly won his record fourth Goodwood Cup (2 miles) on Tuesday however, it was not all plain sailing.
Frankie Dettori looked to have a lap full of horse but had managed to get himself hemmed in towards the rail with two furlongs to travel. Fortunately for him a gap appeared and Stradivarius quickened impressively to reach the lead inside the final furlong and defeat longtime leader Nayef Road by a length with Santiago another 1-1/4 lengths away third.
Dettori admitted he had a concern.
“I was worried when I was held in, because obviously when you do a sprint it takes you a furlong to really find the rhythm, and once the sprint came I thought that is his break,” Dettori told Goodwood Racecourse.
“His greatest weapon is his turn of foot – I don’t remember a stayer with a turn of foot like his. OK, he won the Gold Cup (at Ascot) by 10 lengths, but he always wins by a short margin.
“He passes them and he thinks he has done enough, so I think a combination of that and his class; he’s small but he is all heart.
“This was his biggest test; he was taking on a Derby winner in Santiago, you know, and giving him 15lb. It is pretty good going.
“This was a good performance because under the circumstances he still won. You can’t run away from the fact that the Gold Cup was his best performance, but he is very versatile and even though circumstances did not favour him today, he still won.”
A relieved trainer John Gosden revealed a tilt at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October is a real possibility for the son of Sea The Stars, winning his seventh Group 1 race.
“I knew he was in very good order, but I think it is something like this where Frankie wanted to wait and pounce rather than get in a slogging match from three and a half, two furlongs down,” Gosden said.
“Once he has gone and won, he is quite clever now and thinks he has done his job, so you can’t get there too soon as he pulls himself up like he did last year.
“Last year Frankie started waving at the crowd and he went from a length up to only a neck up at the line, and nearly gave the race back.
“Look, Stradivarius is a fabulous horse, he was cool as a dude in the winner’s enclosure afterwards.
“The owner (Bjorn Nielsen) wants to go a different route with him now. Obviously, the Weatherbys Hamilton was a fantastic £1 million bonus which they have put on for two years running so he would have gone for the Lonsdale Cup at York, but that bonus doesn’t exist anymore.
“So instead, he would like to freshen him up, give him a nice holiday and go for the Prix Foy at Longchamp in September. If he runs a nice race there and handles the track and everything, then he will run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.”