Gold Cup glory for Papineau
Papineau landed a fourth Gold Cup victory for the Godolphin team at Royal Ascot this afternoon.
Frankie Dettori settled the 5-1 second-favourite back in the field but steadily made headway in the Group One contest and tackled Westerner entering the final furlong.
The French raider had no answer to Papineau’s finishing kick and had to settle for second, with Darasim staying on to take third in the premier stayers’ event.
The winner was following up the victories of Classic Cliche (1996) and Kayf Tara twice (1998, 2000) in the historic race for Godolphin.
Papineau missed the break slightly, along with Brian Boru, as Japanese raider Ingrandire took the initiative in the early stages of the two-and-a-half mile contest.
Mr Dinos, sent off the 5-4 favourite, was always up with the pace and Kieren Fallon took up the running entering the home straight and set sail for home.
But they were queuing up to take him on and he was soon passed by Westerner (13-2).
Dettori weaved his way through to take over in the final furlong, pulling clear to score by a length and a half, with Darasim (28-1) a further two and a half lengths away.
Dettori said: “That was great. He’s a fantastic horse – he’s got so much class.
“Everything fell right. Unfortunately I got trapped behind Royal Rebel for a while, but then I got on the tail of Westerner and followed him.
“I knew my horse had a tremendous turn of foot and he picked up like a really good horse.
“Because he is so big and hits the ground so heavy, we were worried that he might have some little problems, but he doesn’t mind fast ground.
“After the race I asked Sheikh Mohammed if I could have a lift back in his helicopter. He said I could have one for free this time because I won!”
Sheikh Mohammed added: “We could have taken a different route with him and gone over a mile and a half, but we thought we would come here. We are very happy with the result.”
Alec Wildenstein, owner of the runner-up, said: “The ground was a little bit hard for him, but we knew that.
“Unfortunately the horses with him dropped out and he found himself in front a little bit too soon. He also didn’t like going downhill on the far side of the track.
“We would take on the winner again, but I don’t think we will run at the same distances.
“Westerner will go for the Arc. He can go anywhere, for races like that and the Japan Cup.”
Gerald Mosse, who rode Westerner, added: “Unfortunately the horses in front didn’t go on long enough.
“I was sitting on a very good horse who wanted to gallop, so I had to let him go earlier than I wanted. If the ground had been a little bit softer he would have won.”
Joe Fanning, rider of the third home, said: “There were no excuses. He has run a great race and gave me a great ride.”
Johnny Murtagh, who steered dual-winner Royal Rebel into fourth place, commented: “He ran a good race again, especially after such a long time off.
“The problem was that the speed horses took a couple of lengths out of him - it was a pity we had no Persian Punch to take him along this time.”
Mark Johnston, trainer of both the third and fourth, said: “I am very pleased, both have run very good races.
“Royal Rebel needed every yard of that trip and probably he was just a bit rusty after such a long time off.
“We could have done with Persian Punch to take them along. There was no real pace until the last half-mile. There aren’t too many two-and-a-half-mile races races around, but we would have to think of the Prix du Cadran, although it is a long time off.
“Darasim ran a great race. It was not his ideal race really as he likes to dominate.”
