Punters enjoy all that Jazz
27/05/2006 - 17:16:28No racecourse generates greater betting turnover than Ascot during its Royal Meeting and so it was apt that Partners In Jazz landed a gamble in the totesport Victoria Cup, the feature event as racing returned following a gap of a year and a half for redevelopment.
The five-year-old plundered the £85,000 handicap for David Barron and Ryan Moore after being steadily backed all week down to 8-1 at the off.
Such confidence came as no surprise from a yard which must always be respected with its tilts at the ring in this type of race and it would be no surprise to see Barron bring the grey back down from North Yorkshire for another big prize at the Royal meeting.
Whether that happens in the Hunt Cup must be open to question as the gelding races primarily over six furlongs and so the Wokingham, over that distance, could well be the contest Barron and owners Sporting Occasions Racing No 2 have in mind.
After Moore had produced Partners In Jazz to lead just inside the quarter-mile pole before scoring by a length and a quarter and a neck from Marching Song and Prince Of Thebes, Mel Catlow, one of the eight owners, said: “David rang me up on the way down and said he would give a good account.
“He’s a good horse and our flag bearer and has always threatened to win a decent race, it was just a question of when it would happen.
“I don’t know which race he would run in at Royal Ascot, that would be for David to decide.”
Moore described the new turf as the finest he had ridden on for a long time and said of the winner: “He was going so well I got there a bit sooner than ideal but he battled all the way to the line. When I gave him a kick he picked up real good.”
Marching Song came close to making this a red-letter day for The Queen and after this sterling effort will surely be another in action in one of the Royal Ascot handicaps.
In lieu of his historic ‘Magnificent Seven’ in 1996, no big occasion here would be quite the same without a winner ridden by Frankie Dettori and the Italian reserved that happening for the finale.
On Trafalgar Bay (4-1), he out-foxed his fellow riders by coming from well off the pace with a beautifully-timed run up the rail to catch Pearly Wey.
Dettori treated the crowd to a flying dismount from Sylvester Kirk’s colt and said: “I was worried we might not get a run. We needed a bit of luck and it arrived and the course rode like a carpet.”
Baby Strange created history when becoming the first winner at the new-look venue, landing the McGee Group Condition Stakes for trainer Paul Blockley and jockey Graham Gibbons.
And in doing so, he showed he is also a horse with potential for the Royal extravaganza as he overcame trouble in running to preserve his unbeaten record.
He was trapped on the rail at one point behind Mr Klick but at the furlong pole a gap presented itself and the 9-4 joint-favourite took it instantly before drawing away from La Neige.
Blockley aims to strike while the iron is hot with Baby Strange and he will reappear in the National Stakes, a Listed contest over five furlongs, at Sandown on Monday.
Beyond that he will look at either the Coventry or Norfolk Stakes for his colt.
Karl Burke continued his purple patch when Akarem gained a second successive Listed race success in the Bovis Homes Buckhounds Stakes.
A winner at 20-1 on his latest start at Hamilton, the five-year-old went off at 16-1 this time but took the spoils more in the manner of a short-priced favourite.
Admiral’s Cruise was a huge mover in the on-course market and went off 5-4 under Dettori but, after travelling smoothly into the straight, seemed unhappy on the faster ground and weakened as Pat Cosgrave swooped on Akarem.
The combination stormed four lengths clear of Frank Sonata, who held Profit’s Reality by a head.
Middleham-based Burke said: “The horses are in great form and that’s two Listed races in the space of a week, together with a double yesterday. Akarem is a gross horse who I bought at the horses in training sale.
“He finished second in the November Handicap off 102 and on this evidence could be Group Three class.”
A third North Yorkshire winner went on the board courtesy of George Moore’s Toldo in the Toni and David Eyles Handicap.
It was the perfect conclusion to the two-mile test for jockey Nicky Mackay, who thwarted his brother Jamie on Elusive Dream by three quarters of a length.
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