Stradivarius made history by winning his fourth Goodwood Cup despite traffic and spotting significant weight to his opponents under Frankie Dettori, defeating Nayef Road and Santiago in the marathon.
Stradivarius had to overcome traffic and tight quarters in the running, but the six-year-old son of Sea The Stars powered home to beat the Mark Johnston-trained Nayef Road, prompting the trademark flying dismount from Dettori, which was actually first done by the great Angel Cordero Jr.
It was a fourth victory in the race in as many years for Stradivarius and prompted Betfair to cut him to 14-1 for the Arc de Triomphe, with trainer John Gosden confirming the winner will take on stablemate Enable in the prestigious contest. One has to guess Frankie will ride Enable, but that is no discredit to Stradivarius. Riders have also made the wrong call in big races before a la Bill Shoemaker who chose Hill Rise over Northern Dancer in the Kentucky Derby.
Frankie had this to say following the impressive performance :
“What he’s done is break records. To go from a superstar mare like Enable to an absolute champion like this horse in three days is the stuff of dreams. knew I had a good partner and I just had to be patient. When you’ve got a good horse a gap will come. I’ve been in that position before and it’s not nice to be in that position, but he got out and he won.”
You don’t see many stayers with the class and ability to carry weight over a distance of ground like Stradivarius. He’s a true champion, a war horse and a throw back. If he can manage a win in the Prix de Arc de Triomphe he’ll be in the all time great discussion. he should already be.
