Dettori swoops on Alkaased
It was a first Group One victory for the five-year-old, who had finished runner-up in the Coronation up at Epsom on his last start.
Dettori made good headway from the rear in mid-race and had his mount settled on the heels of the leaders turning for home.
The 6-1 chance then quickened readily when asked, sprinting past Bago’s pacemaker Imago Mundi before holding off Policy Maker by two lengths.
The disappointing Bago made up ground late on to take third, another two lengths in arrears.
Yeats, who beat Alkaased at Epsom, had been up with the pace for much of the mile-and-a-half race but was being nudged along a fair way out and dropped out of contention when the taps were turned on in the straight.
Bago, sent off the 5-4 favourite, was under pressure from Thierry Gillet a long way from home, having been settled almost last for much of the race, and it was far too late when he began to run on in the closing stages.
He only just snatched third from Australian runner Elvstroem in the dying strides.
Dettori raised his fist to the crowd in celebration as he crossed the line and was ecstatic at landing the race at last - one of the few European Group Ones to have eluded him in his stellar career.
“It’s been a long time coming, but I’m a patient man,” he said.
“The horse travelled extremely well and the race went smoothly for us, getting a good lead from Imago Mundi and Yeats. He is a very good horse and at last has got the reward his talent deserves.”
Fellow-Italian Cumani echoed Dettori’s comments, adding: “He was very impressive. He was going so smoothly on the turn into the straight that I didn’t think anything was going to beat him.
“He is a very, very good horse.”
Alan Cooper, racing manager to Bago’s owners the Niarchos family, said: “I’m disappointed by his performance. He just didn’t get into the race to begin with, but he quickened up well in the straight.”
