Gibraltar faces defining moment
They are the stuff of legend. Perhaps the day Bob Beamon jumped out of the pit in Mexico, Mark Spitz swam away with seven golds in Munich and Nadia Comaneci was awarded a perfect 10 in Montreal; or Gareth Edwards scoring that try for the Barbarians in Cardiff, Manchester United securing their treble in Barcelona; even Packie Bonner’s penalty save and David O’Leary’s conversion at Italia ‘90, if you like.
At Goodwood today, it is odds-on that a horse will equal a feat not seen in 30 years. Victory for Rock Of Gibraltar in the Group One Sussex Stakes will provide the colt, trained at Ballydoyle by Aidan O’Brien, with his sixth successive win at the highest level of competition, mirroring that attained by Mill Reef over a 12 month period from June 1971.
Aside from Frankie Dettori’s “Magnificent Seven” at Ascot in 1997, racing records do not often stir from the specialist pages, and it would be a fair bet that few outside the sport will take much notice but for the fact that Rock Of Gibraltar is part owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, who will take advantage of a brief lull in Manchester Utd’s pre season campaign to be present.
Mike Dillon, the public relations guru at bookmakers Ladbrokes, is Ferguson’s racing manager. He reveals a sense of wonderment.
“When Alex was growing up Mill Reef was very much the horse of his youth and the fact that Rock Of Gibraltar could emulate him by becoming only the second horse to do it since the classifications started is something he just can’t get to grips with at all,” the manager’s manager said yesterday.
It is just four years since Ferguson enjoyed his first success on the turf. Since buying a 50 per cent stake in Rock Of Gibraltar in June 2000 he has seen the horse wrack up his famous five in the Grand Criterium and the Dewhurst in his final starts as a two year old and the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Curragh and, most recently, the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.
There may be suggestions that the form Rock Of Gibraltar’s closest pursuers this season have been stable companions does not stand up to scrutiny when compared to Mill Reef’s. The Derby, Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes , Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Prix Ganay and Coronation Cup form an enviable sequence. But it would be churlish to carp.
Ian Balding, who trained Mill Reef and who this week announced that he will retire at the end of the season, knows only too well the obstacles Rock Of Gibraltar has overcome.
“Racehorses are more fragile now, which makes it difficult to train them as hard as we used to. We used to go to the Downs three times a week but horses mentally and physically can’t seem to take that as much now,” he said at Goodwood yesterday.
Two years ago, Giant’s Causeway, another Ballydoyle three-year-old, included the Sussex Stakes in his haul of five successive Group One victories. A sixth proved beyond him in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.
Rock Of Gibraltar has the assistance of two pacemakers, Shoal Creek and Sahara Desert, as he tackles older horses, with the principal opposition headed by Noverre and No Excuse Needed, first and second in the race 12 months ago.
Saeed bin Surroor, the Godolphin trainer, offers anticipation of a brighter display from Noverre than when the colt finished second in the Lockinge Stakes in May.
“He has been training very well and is in good form,” bin Surroor said yesterday. Rock Of Gibraltar has set himself a precedent for achieving the unprecedented.
“Wherever he’s gone he’s cocked a snook at history,” Dillon said. “It is a big challenge for the horse, and when you step up out of your own generation there are questions to be answered.”
Cling to the past and you will miss the future was yesterday’s message from Sheikh Mohammed’s website. It appears the men behind Rock Of Gibraltar are thinking well beyond today.
