Richard Hannon, the champion trainer for the last two seasons, took the feature race on the opening day of the Cambridgeshire meeting here on Thursday with Havana Gold but, as so often this year, it was John Gosden, one of the two trainers competing to succeed him, who emerged as the biggest winner on the day.
Gosden moved ahead of Aidan O’Brien in the title race thanks to a 57.5-1 double in the card’s two Listed events, worth a combined total of nearly £30,000. First, Gallipot showed an impressive turn of foot to take the Richard Hambro Stakes, while an hour later Caucus took the Jockey Club Rose Bowl Stakes at 12-1. He then added a third winner with Hezmah in the final race of the day.
Gosden did his best to feign indifference when reminded that he had overtaken O’Brien after Gallipot’s success, though it was not entirely convincing. “There’s a long way to go,” he said. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen in that at about five o’clock on Champions Day, until then it’s all in the air. We’ve been top of the table before [in previous seasons] and slipped down to second. That’s life, it’s all just a game, isn’t it?”
Coral cut Gosden’s odds for the championship twice after Thursday’s successes, first from 2-1 to 13-8 and then to 5-4. Champions Day at Ascot on 20 October, when the prizes on offer include £1.3m in the Champion Stakes and £1m in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, seems likely to decide the outcome. O’Brien, who is expected to saddle Excelebration, one of the favourites, in the QEII is still their favourite for the title at 4-7, although Paddy Power offer both Gosden and O’Brien at 5-6.
Havana Gold’s success in the Group Three Tattersall Stakes was his fourth in five starts and he is unfortunate not to be unbeaten as he was a length clear at Deauville in August when his saddle slipped and he unseated his jockey.
“He’s a very nice horse, for next year especially,” Richard Hannon Jr, representing his father, said. “He’ll definitely stay a mile. He’s very relaxed, a little bit too relaxed sometimes.”
The last three winners of the eight-furlong maiden that opens the meeting – Dandy, Auden and Fareej – have managed to win a combined total of one subsequent race between them and that was a three-runner novice on the all-weather. Telescope, though, could be the colt to revive its reputation and Sir Michael Stoute’s colt is generally a 20-1 chance for next year’s Derby after he quickened away from his field for a comfortable two-and-a-quarter length success.
ARC, the owner of Folkestone racecourse, said in a statement on Thursday that it was “disappointed” by the decision of Shepway council to proceed with its core strategy local plan without any provision for enhancement of the track. Folkestone is due to close at the end of the year and has already abandoned its final scheduled Flat meeting next Tuesday due to waterlogging.
ARC insists that it is still keen to explore ways in which racing can be retained. “We intend to continue discussing the future of the racecourse with the council who, we believe, remain committed to racing continuing,” its statement said, “but a favourable outcome in the short term has been made more difficult to achieve.”