Frankie cuts gap at top to five with fabulous four-timer
The winners were Swan Nebula (5-1), Echoes In Eternity (5-1), Librettist (evens) and Monsoon Rain (6-4), and as a result Dettori now trails Kieren Fallon by five (140-145) in the title race after the reigning champion had just one winner (Mr Velocity) at Epsom.
Ladbrokes go 4-9 Fallon and 7-4 Dettori in the betting for the jockeys’ championship.
Echoes In Eternity was the highlight of the quartet when she allayed any stamina doubts with a convincing victory in the National Stud Never Say Die Club Park Hill Stakes.
Meanwhile, Halmahera etched his name indelibly into racing’s history books as he landed the totesport Portland Handicap for the third year running.
Halmahera became the first horse since the race was first run in 1855 as the Portland Plate to win it on three occasions.
Two furlongs out, Halmahera’s chances looked slim to say the least.
However, switched to the stands rail by Neil Callan, the nine-year-old started to gather momentum and got up in the shadow of the post to score by a head from Texas Gold in a course record time.
Callan, though, picked up a one-day ban (September 19) for using his whip out of the stride pattern.
Merlin’s Dancer, one of three 7-1 co-favourites, led the main body of the field on the stands side as only three of the 22-strong field stayed over on the far side.
One of that trio was Texas Gold and, remarkably, he looked like defying his supposedly unfavoured number one draw when he took a definite advantage going into the final furlong.
However as he tired and hung towards the centre of the course, William Muir’s charge was just unable to repel the thrust of the 11-1 winner, owned in partnership by John Duddy and Irish soccer star Niall Quinn.
Ptarmigan Ridge finished a neck further back in third, with Whistler fourth.
Having missed Halmahera’s first two successes, Quinn was delighted to watch his old stager deliver the goods.
“To come here and see that is incredible,” he said. “I’m floating to be honest.
“I remember Kevin rang me up and said I’ve got this horse who will give you a bit of fun at the big meetings and I think there’s a little bit still left in him.
“I was in Ireland and I saw Mick Kinane, who asked if I’d bought any yearlings and I said I’d bought a six-year-old.
“He said ‘What, to go jumping?’ and when I told him it was a Flat horse he looked at me like I was on the beer or something.
The Ayr Gold Cup could be on the agenda for Halmahera, although Ryan admitted “after this, everything else is just a bonus”.
Europe’s richest two-year-old race, the £200,000 St Leger Yearling Stakes, went for a second time to a Henry Candy-trained runner when Caesar Beware rocketed home to land the £173,400 winner’s purse.
However, prospects of the heavily-backed 13-8 favourite coming good in the six-furlong dash looked slim at halfway as the Daggers Drawn gelding had a lot to do in mid-division.
But the response was immediate once jockey Dane O’Neill asked Caesar Beware to quicken.
The market leader shot through the pack to hit the front inside the final furlong to score by a two lengths and one and a half from Distinctly Game (25-1) and Moscow Music (33-1).
Candy, who sent out Goggles to win the race in 2000, had not been too confident of Caesar Beware’s chances after his charge had suffered “a couple of setbacks”.
Caesar Beware had won his two previous starts at Chepstow and Windsor but after his last run he coughed and then trod on a nail.
But there were no signs of any problems yesterday and he could now be stepped up to Group Two company for his next outing.
“I was a bit worried at halfway but he didn’t half pick-up,” said a relieved Candy. “First time out at Chepstow you wouldn’t have given him a prayer at halfway but he does have this ability to really pick up and quicken. He’s got definite class.
“If he comes out of this OK he’ll go for the Mill Reef (at Newbury September 18). But from my experience, when they do get away with a botched up preparation, to possibly to run too quickly next time would be a total disaster.
“So he’ll have to be giving me a lot of confidence.”
The race was run in track-record time and the Wantage trainer added: “That was tailor-made for him because they went 100mph.”
