By Breandán Ó hUallacháin
Westover (1/2f) got back on the winning trail with success in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France on Saturday.
Last year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby winner at The Curragh had run four times in three different countries since his County Kildare win, but without success.
The seven-length winner of Ireland’s premier classic contested the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot a month later but disappointed connections when finishing a well-beaten fifth of six runners, eighteen lengths behind the race winner, Pyledriver.
Westover’s three-year-old season concluded when finishing a credible sixth. seven and a quarter lengths behind the winner, Alpinista, in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp, on very soft ground which he hated.
His four-year-old season began early in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan, running second under Ryan Moore to Japanese superstar Equinox.
In his most recent start prior to Saturday, the Ralph Beckett-trained son of Frankel had finished second to Emily Upjohn in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Epsom. That filly took the runner-up position behind Paddington in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown also on Saturday.
In a small field for the one-mile-four furlong Saint Cloud Group 1, the Rob Hornby-ridden Westover started race favourite and always travelled well throughout.
Carrying the colours of Juddmonte Farms, the English-trained four-year-old raced third for most of the contest as Tunnes (76/10) and Westover’s stablemate and pacemaker, Malabu Beach (29/1), took the race along.
The three-time winner took the lead under Rob Hornby at the two-eighths pole but had to fight tenaciously to fend off the effort of the Christophe Soumillion-ridden Zagray (16/5), who had finished two and a quarter lengths behind Westover in the Dubai Sheema Classic in March.
As Zagray was having his first run since, race fitness probably assisted Westover as he galloped strongly to the winning line to post a two-length success.
Winning jockey Rob Hornby, for whom it was a fourth career Group 1 win, told Sky Sports Racing:
“When he dropped the bit he was able to work into it but funnily enough, once he shut down he took some stoking up again, so I was keen to hit the 500 (metre mark) and get on my bike early. I knew he’d stay galloping all the way to the line. He hit the line strong and the time matches that.”
The successful handler Ralph Becket, winner of the Oaks at Epsom with Look Here (2008) and Talent (2013) as well as the St Leger at Donaster with Simple Verse (2015), admitted when interviewed on Sky Sports Racing:
“Inevitably there was pressure as it was a long time since he won, over a year, and the longer that goes on the harder it gets. There was nothing wrong with his two runs this year, he’s only had the one blip in the King George. He was great today and it was a very fast time.”
Beckett, grandson of 1947 Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning owner Ralph Beckett continued:
“I think we’ll either stay at a mile and a half or even have a conversation about going up in trip, because the peloton came to him but he stretched away in the last half a furlong. We’ll certainly consider the King George (VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July) and see how he is closer to the time. The Arc (Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp in October) will be under consideration too, he ran a great race in it last year (sixth) but got stuck in the ground.”
Westover, a full brother to the Group 3 winner Monarchs Glen, now has a race record of four wins – three of them at stakes level – and five placings from eleven race starts.
