Dubai: Benbatl continued Godolphin’s dominant week at Royal Ascot by winning the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes to give trainer Saeed Bin Surour his 36th success at the meeting and first in three years.
Meanwhile Big Orange, ridden with supreme confidence by Godolphin jockey James Doyle, denied last year’s victor Order Of St George, in a thrilling Grenewal of the old Cup, the longest race at the Royal meeting at 3,200 metres.
Fifth in the Epsom Derby (G1), Benbatl produced a giant effort under a passionate ride by the wrongly underrated Oisin Murphy to hold off the late-finishing Orderofthegarter, ridden by big-race jockey Ryan Moore, for a ½ length victory.
Mirage Dancer, ridden by Andrea Atezeni for leading Royal Ascot trainer Sir Michael Stoute, was ¾ length back in third while Orderofthegarter’s pacemaker Taj Mahal, a close fourth..
“I don’t celebrate very often, but that one meant the world to me,” said Murphy who was exulting a first-ever Royal Ascot victory. “It builds up in your mind and you’re just trying to get it out of the way and the monkey off your back. It’s fantastic to do it.
“Saeed has been very good to me and to reward him with a Royal Ascot winner is fantastic.
“He travelled like the best horse in the race because he was the best horse in the race.”
Bin Suroor was equally delight at breaking his Royal Ascot drought and added: “When he won first time (at Doncaster) we thought this was a horse for big races. He finished fifth in the Derby and we thought the mile and a quarter would be better for him.
“He’s a nice horse for the future and Oisin is a jockey for the future.
“He’s done a really good job for us in Dubai and here, and we’re going to use him more in the future.
“It’s brilliant to win at Royal Ascot. This is a hard race to win, but finally we found the right horse. We’ll maybe take him to Goodwood for a Group 2, give him a break and later maybe the Champion Stakes.”
Benbatl was providing Godolphin a second successive victory in the Hampton Court Stakes, a race run as the Tercentenary Stakes between 2011 and 2016 as the racecourse celebrated 300 years since its inauguration.
Bin Surour last tasted Royal Ascot success when Elite Army won the King George V Handicap in 2014.
Three other horses with Dubai connections have triumphed in the race. Zaham, owned by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, won in 2007, Afsare for Shaikh Mohammad Obaid Al Maktoum in 2010 and Cannock Chase for Emirati businessman Saeed Suhail in 2014.
Big Orange can be a tricky horse to pass if gets to the front and so it was as the two-time Meydan runner outstayed the big favourite, Order of St. George, the mount of Ryan Moore.
Doyle, who was notching an eight Royal Ascot victory and second of the week following Barney Roy’s win in the
St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1) on Day One, was over the moon and threw up his hands to urge a sell-out crowd to share in his victory celebrations.
“Blimey, he’s as tough as they get! Full credit to everyone,” said Doyle. “It was great to get the call-up. Unfortunately Frankie (Dettori) couldn’t have got the injury at a worse time.
“Frankie’s a real star. He called me a couple of nights ago and I was probably on the phone for about 20 minutes getting instructions and him telling me all about the horse. He was spot on.
“You can’t do it without the help of everyone. Frankie said to me ‘whatever you do, don’t interfere with him’. He knows what speed he wants to go at and you just sit as a passenger.
“I had Frankie’s voice in my head as I just eased him out and let him go to the front and the rest was history.
“He got a little bit lonely. I wish the second horse had joined me a bit earlier and I think he’d have won by further then.”
Other winners on the day included John Gosden’s Coronet in the Ribblesdale Stakes (Group 2) and Sioux Nation in the opening Group 2 Norfolk Stakes.
