Godolphin's Ribchester Takes the Queen Anne

THE OPENING SALVO
During a turbulent period in Godolphin's history, it was the horse who did the talking in the Royal meeting's opener as Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) justified 11-10 favouritism in Tuesday's G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot. Clear best on soft ground in the G1 Lockinge S. at Newbury May 20, last year's G1 Prix Jacques le Marois winner was able to come out on top on vastly contrasting conditions here, showing his increasingly customary kink in the process. Always happy travelling in fourth under William Buick as the field ignored the two pacemakers, the bay was left in front with 1 1/2 furlongs remaining and despite giving his rivals a chance by veering left soon after was always in control as he eventually registered a new course record time in beating Mutakayyef (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) by 1 1/4 lengths. “He is an absolute jockey's dream and, as I said after Newbury, he is very versatile and an exceptional miler,” his rider said. “He travels so well and sees it out so well. It doesn't get much better than this. All the work we do is towards getting to the winner's enclosure and that's where Sheikh Mohammed deserves to be.”

Tuesday, Royal Ascot, Britain
QUEEN ANNE S.-G1, £685,000, ASC, 6-20, 4yo/up, 8fT, 1:36.60 (NTR), g/f.
1–RIBCHESTER (IRE), 126, c, 4, by Iffraaj (GB)
1st Dam: Mujarah (Ire), by Marju (Ire)
2nd Dam: Tanaghum (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
3rd Dam: Mehthaaf, by Nureyev
(€78,000 Wlg '13 GOFNOV; €105,000 Ylg '14 GOFORB). O-Godolphin; B-A Thompson & M O'Brien (IRE); T-Richard Fahey; J-William Buick. £388,464. Lifetime Record: Hwt. 3yo-Eur at 7-9.5f, G1SW-Fr & G1SP-UAE, 12-5-3-3, $2,540,614. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Mutakayyef (GB), 126, g, 6, Sea the Stars (Ire)–Infallible (GB), by Pivotal (GB). (260,000gns Ylg '12 TAOCT). O-Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum; B-Cheveley Park Stud Ltd (GB); T-William Haggas. £147,275.
3–Deauville (Ire), 126, c, 4, Galileo (Ire)–Walklikeanegyptian (Ire), by Danehill. O-Mrs Fitri Hay, Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier & Derrick Smith; B-Mrs Fitri Hay (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. £73,706.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”]Margins: 1 1/4, NK, 1. Odds: 1.10, 5.00, 12.00.
Also Ran: Spectre (Fr), Kaspersky (Ire), Dutch Connection (GB), Cougar Mountain (Ire), Oh This Is Us (Ire), Lightning Spear (GB), Jallota (GB), American Patriot, Kool Kompany (Ire), Miss Temple City, Toscanini (Ire), Ennaadd (GB), Dutch Uncle (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Since maturing into a formidable miler, only three rivals have got the better of Ribchester over this trip and they are The Gurkha (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) and Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). For various reasons, they were all absent from this Queen Anne but it is plausible that the Richard Fahey trainee has progressed past the form standard of at least two of them at this point in his career. Early showings when second in York's G2 Gimcrack S. and when winning the G2 Mill Reef S. at Newbury suggested he had ample ability and it was only after finishing third in the G1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket last April that he truly blossomed. Overcoming a five-pound penalty in the seven-furlong G3 Jersey S. here 12 months ago, he was considered slightly unlucky when a strong-finishing third behind The Gurkha and Galileo Gold in Goodwood's G1 Sussex S. in July and made up for any misfortune there when taking the Jacques le Marois at Deauville in August. Brought back here to be a half-length second to Minding in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. on Champions Day, he was stretching out to nine furlongs when third in the G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan Mar. 25.

Unlike in the Lockinge, stablemate Toscanini (Ire) (Shamardal) was quickly away here but when he set off too fast William Buick opted to take a lead from the Royal Ascot regular Miss Temple City (Temple City) who led the main group. As Toscanini backtracked, Ribchester was still cruising and although he had to sidstep his rabbit and wandered in front there never seemed a doubt that he had everything covered in behind. “You can never be confident, but everything dropped into place there,” trainer Richard Fahey said. “He has huge gears and he is never in trouble. It wasn't really the plan to go that quick with Toscanini and I did tell Paul [Hanagan] to bounce out this time. He more or less took off and probably didn't lead Ribchester far enough. He broke the track record here today and that's not being disrespectful to the others, but he is just exceptional.” Of Ribchester's tendency to wander in front, he added, “He gets lonely out in front sometimes. I don't think it is pressure and he just went walkabouts. William doesn't feel that the tank is empty with him and that he is getting stronger the whole time. Mentally, he is also getting better which is a great attitude to have in a racehorse–he is starting to think he is good.” Fahey is looking at the G1 Sussex S. at Goodwood Aug. 2 next. “The Sussex Stakes is where he has to go really,” he continued. “The French race [the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois] which he won last year is only 10 days after the Sussex so we can't go to both. I was always hoping that he would stay further but at the moment, I don't need to go further.”

Mutakayyef was running another big race and jockey Jim Crowley said, “That was a good run–he just couldn't get to the winner.” Dr Jim Hay, part-owner of Deauville, said of then third, “That was a fantastic run. He is a very flexible horse and probably nine furlongs is his perfect distance. But he needs it like today–he needs firm going and he doesn't get it very often. No doubt Aidan and the rest of the lads will have a chat and work out where to go next.”

Ribchester's dam Mujarah, who also has a yearling colt by Raven's Pass and a colt foal by Dubawi (Ire), is a half to the G3 Curragh Cup scorer Tactic (GB) (Sadler's Wells) and the G3 Prix Minerve runner-up Yaazy (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). She is a granddaughter of Mehthaaf, who captured the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas, G2 Celebration Mile and G3 Nell Gwyn S. for Shadwell. Later the dam of the G2 Premio Lydia Tesio-winning highweight Najah (Ire) (Nashwan), she is a half to four other black-type performers headed by the G1 July Cup-winning sire Elnadim and also to the dam of the high-class Occupandiste (Ire) (Kaldoun {Fr}). That G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and G1 Prix de la Foret heroine produced last year's GI Arlington Million hero Mondialiste (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the G2 Prix de Sandringham winner and G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches runner-up Impressionnante (GB) (Danehill), who in turn is responsible for the G1 Prix du Jockey-Club-winning sire Intello (Ger) (Galileo). The G1 Prix d'Astarte-winning fourth dam Elle Seule (Exclusive Native) is out of Fall Aspen, which connects her to Timber Country, Bianconi, Fort Wood and Hamas (Ire), and also the great Dubai Millennium (GB) (Seeking the Gold).

Dubai Millennium still represents the high point of Sheikh Mohammed's ongoing racing saga which began with the win of the John Dunlop-trained filly Hatta (GB) at Brighton 40 years ago to the day. He reflected, “From that day we have moved forward and we are enjoying it. You have to keep going. This is a very difficult place to win at, but it is a great place to win at.”