Champagne shared after Doncaster thriller
There was a nail-biting finish to the intercasino.com Champagne Stakes at Doncaster on Friday when Close To You and Silent Times flashed past the post in unison.
On returning to the unsaddling enclosure both jockeys, John Egan and Jamie Spencer, refused to enter the winner’s slot as connections of the horses involved waited for the judge, Brian Goodwill, to announce the result.
He studied the photo for about 15 minutes before he decided they were inseparable and called a dead-heat, the first such result in the historic event for 101 years and third in all.
On hearing the announcement Eoghan O’Neill, who was responsible for Silent Times, said: “I’ve never had a winner at Doncaster and that’s fantastic, absolutely super.”
And of the colt, he added: “He’s going to get stronger, he’s going to get better and he has improved significantly between here and when he was third in Ireland. I knew he’d run a big race here.
“I think I’ll put him away for the season but I have dreams of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile because he can jump and kick, so we’ll see.
“If he has another race it will be the one in America. He’s just the type of horse to do really well on the dirt so we’ll consider it.”
Spencer said: “It’s nice really to get a result like that because neither horse deserves to lose when it gets that close. John went a head up on me but my horse fought back.”
Richard Ryan, assistant to Close To You’s trainer Terry Mills, very nearly withdrew the colt on account of the rain-softened ground.
He said: “It was only because he had a decent draw that persuaded us to let him take his chance. But that is the last time he will race on ground as soft as that.
“He is in the Dewhurst but I don’t know about that yet.
“It will be the 2000 Guineas next season and on good or faster ground, it will take some machine to beat him.”
Egan added: “We couldn’t decide who had won – we both thought we’d got beat.
“My horse is so tough and the one we dead-heated with is a very good horse as well.
“My horse will be a good horse next year on fast ground. We could be talking about a Guineas horse – I like him that much.”
Killybegs was the subject of a late plunge and was backed into 9-4 favourite but after having very chance he finished third, a length and three-quarters behind the principals.
Just a short head behind the third was Richard Hannon’s Cool Creek and the Marlborough trainer thought his horse was unlucky.
He said: “Every time he tried for a run he was stopped and I am sure he should have won.”
The race lost some of its sparkle with the withdrawal of possible favourite Palace Episode after an unsatisfactory scope.
And the result failed to make an impact on the Classic betting with Silent Times getting a quote of 66-1 from Cashmans for the 2000 Guineas.
