Dubai: Team Godolphin revelled in one of their overall best Royal Ascot performances last week, winning six races and narrowly missing out on capturing the leading owner trophy at British racing’s biggest event.
That success has been significantly reflected in the latest Cartier Racing Awards standings where Ribchester and Barney Roy head two of the seven prestigious categories.
Ribchester, who was winning his second Group 1 mile contest of the year at Royal Ascot with the Queen Anne Stakes, having previously landed the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury in May, heads the Cartier Older Horse Award category with 86 points ahead of Decorated Knight (80) and Highland Reel (80).
Barney Roy, winner of the St. James’s Palace Stakes, shares the lead in the Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt division with dual 2,000 Guineas hero Churchill, on 80 points.
Meanwhile, Churchill’s stable companion. Winter, holds a big advantage in the Cartier Award for three-year-old fillies with a whopping 116 points.
The three Group 1 sprints at Royal Ascot impacted on the Cartier Sprinter Award with Irish-trained Caravaggion (60) heading the division
Caravaggio took his unbeaten run to five wins when getting up in the last half-furlong to deny Godolphin’s Harry Angel (36) by three-quarters of a length in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.
It will be interesting to note that the first two winners of the Commonwealth Cup, Muhaarar (2015) and Quiet Reflection (2016), both went on to win the Cartier Sprinter Award.
Lady Aurelia (32) created history in 2016 when becoming the first US-trained horse to win a Cartier Racing Award, the Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly, and the Wesly Ward-trained filly is in contention again for more Cartier glory this year, having won the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes.
The third Group 1 Royal Ascot sprint, the final day’s Diamond Jubilee Stakes. saw The Tin Man (32) get the better of Tasleet (32), owned by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, by a neck.
Harry Herbert, Cartier’s racing consultant, commented: “Royal Ascot lived up to its billing and provided five of the best days of racing to be found anywhere in the world.
“There were outstanding performances all round, from the sprints to the staying races, which will live long in the memory.
“Year after year, we frequently see Royal Ascot results playing a pivotal role in determining the champions at the annual Cartier Racing Awards.
“The European Flat racing season is now entering its high-summer schedule, with the Irish middle-distance Classics and Newmarket’s Moët & Chandon July Festival both approaching.”
The Cartier Racing Awards were established in 1991 to reward excellence in European horseracing.
