Trawlerman races away to take Gold Cup at Royal Ascot

It was simple but ruthlessly effective as Trawlerman and William Buick made all the running to win the Gold Cup on Thursday. The Gosden stable’s seven-year-old faced two four-year-old rivals with a touch more class but no experience of racing at two and a half miles and when Buick challenged them to catch him with a quarter of a mile to run, neither Illinois nor Candelari could summon a response.

Candelari was a spent force with half a mile left, while Illinois’s brief effort in the home straight scarcely made an impression on Trawlerman’s lead as he galloped on relentlessly for the line. He had a seven-length advantage at the post and it was seven more back to Dubai Future in third.

“It was the only way we were going to win,” said John Gosden, who has won the feature event on the first three days of the meeting. “We had to say, if you’re going to beat me, you’re going to know you’ve been in a race, because you’re going to have to go two and a half miles at a proper gallop.

“William said [before the race], ‘from four out, I’m going to notch it up, notch it up, notch it up.’ So if they stay, they’re going to have to stay every inch. He rode him perfectly and judged it beautifully. It’s not an easy thing to do over two and a half miles.

“I take nothing from the second. He’s a fabulous horse, but two and a half miles truly run is not his game. Falsely run, he’d be fine.”

Gosden summoned up the memory of a great stayer of the past – the three-time winner Sagaro, with Lester Piggott in the saddle – to explain the appeal of a hard-galloping stayer like Trawlerman and acknowledged that his horse had been beaten by an outstanding champion in the now retired Kyprios in this race last year.

“He ran Kyprios to a length and they were both all out,” Gosden said. “So he deserves, with Kyprios not here, to come back and show he’s a proper horse over this trip.

“I remember the great horses that Lester Piggott rode, like Sagaro, the way he could run the last six furlongs in one [minute] 12 [seconds] flat. That’s what I like, a horse that can go the distance, and then go, and you can’t catch them.”

Illinois was seen as a possible successor to Kyprios and Aidan O’Brien’s mighty stayer Yeats before the race, but the search for the next Gold Cup winner from Ballydoyle now seems likely to shift to the three-year-old crop. Trawlerman, meanwhile, is a gelding, and while he has left it quite late to attempt to join the list of multiple Gold Cup winners, Gosden will give him every chance.

William Buick celebrates aboard Trawlerman after winning the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters

“He should be aimed at coming back here next year,” the trainer said, “and he shouldn’t be over-raced in the meantime. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see him again until the Henry II [Stakes in May] next year.

“He doesn’t need to be going to all those [summer Cup] races or he might come back here for that race in the autumn [the stayers’ event on Champions Day in October], he’s won that [before], and then we’ll put him away.”

This was a fifth win of the meeting for the John & Thady Gosden team, but not enough to keep them in the lead in the race to be the leading trainer as O’Brien, the winner in eight of the past 10 seasons, completed a 44-1 treble.

Charles Darwin (8-13) was an impressive winner of the opening Norfolk Stakes, while Garden Of Eden (7-1) took the Group Two Ribblesdale Stakes and Trinity College, the 5-2 favourite, made all the running in the Group Three Hampton Court Stakes.

The treble sent Ryan Moore well clear of his rivals for the top jockeys’ prize with five winners. He is two clear of Oisin Murphy – who had a 42-1 double on Arabian Story in the Britannia Handicap and Never So Brave in the concluding Buckingham Palace Stakes – and three ahead of a trio of riders – including Buick and James Doyle – with two wins.

Kon Tiki can sail to success

Zarigana, who got the Poule D’Essai Des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas) in the stewards’ room, is the only runner in Friday’s Coronation Stakes with a previous Group One victory to her name but still faces significant opposition as she pursues a second after two unbeaten fillies – Falakeyah and Kon Tiki – were given £46k supplementary entries at the weekend.

Falakeyah in particular has captured the punters’ imagination, and Owen Burrows’s filly has since replaced Zarigana at the top of the betting with most firms.

She is back in trip after running away with the Pretty Polly at Newmarket – often seen as a trial for the 12-furlong Oaks – but showed plenty of speed in the early part of the race and should cope with the drop to a mile.

Zarigana could easily be unbeaten in five as her sole defeat was in a head-bobber for the Group One Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp in October.

This is far from a two-horse race, however, and the 7-1 shot Kon Tiki (4.20), who has very similar claims to Falakeyah on her form, accelerated impressively to win a Listed race at York’s Dante meeting in May.

On paper, this is a significant step up in class but that was a strong field for the level and she won in an excellent time, with more in hand than a half-length margin might suggest.

Royal Ascot 2.30 Gold Digger showed an excellent turn of foot to justify market support on debut at Yarmouth in May and could be over-priced at around 8-1 to follow up in what looks an open renewal of the Albany Stakes.

Royal Ascot 3.05 Two of 2024’s Group One-winning juveniles are in the lineup for this year’s Commonwealth Cup and Shadow Of Light, who was Europe’s top-rated two-year-old thanks to a rare double in the Middle Park and Dewhurst Stakes, will be tough to beat dropping back to the Middle Park’s six-furlong trip. He showed excellent speed to quicken into the lead in the 2,000 Guineas in May before fading late on behind Ruling Court and Tuesday’s St James’s Park Stakes winner, Field Of Gold, and this return to a stiff sprint trip promises to play to his strengths.

Royal Ascot 3.40 Roger Varian’s French Duke has yet to run this season but is the type to make significant further progress as a four-year-old having been gelded over the winter. James Doyle’s presence in the saddle is encouraging as the Wathnan operation has the fancied recent purchase Almosh’her in the field.

Royal Ascot 5.00 Silver Ghost beat the re-opposing Miss Nightfall by two-and-a-half lengths in a strongly run handicap at Goodwood last month and while James Fanshawe’s filly has a 6lb swing in her favour here, Silver Ghost has improved from race-to-race this year and looks the better bet at around 12-1.

Royal Ascot 5.35 The fast-improving Zahrann did not see a track until April but has taken a big step forward on his past two starts, including a comfortable success in a Listed race at Leopardstown two weeks ago. He was still showing signs of inexperience there and further improvement seems inevitable here if the race does not come too soon.

Royal Ascot 6.10 The high-numbered stalls have held sway on the straight course this week and also in this race since it was added to the schedule in 2020. This is a negative for two of the market leaders, Realign and Redorange. Simon and Ed Crisford’s Adrestia, though, has drawn well in stall 24, has Oisin Murphy booked to ride and has presumably been pleasing her trainers since a close third at Windsor on her seasonal debut 11 days ago.