- Reuters
Horse racing: Enable wins King George stakes for record third time
Trained by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori, Enable was in second place at the bell for the final turn before the Italian coaxed her into the lead on the home straight as she comfortably beat Sovereign and Japan by 5-1/2 lengths. The win also made Dettori the joint most successful jockey in the event -- alongside Lester Piggott -- with seven wins.
The TelegraphBarry Geraghty announces surprise retirement after glittering career as man for the big occasion
Barry Geraghty, one of the most successful jump jockeys of the last 20 years, has announced his retirement. His tally of 43 Festivals winners, five of which came at his last Cheltenham in March shortly before the lockdown, is only bettered by Ruby Walsh. With Walsh and Paul Carberry already retired, Geraghty joining them, Davy Russell just turned 41, Robbie Power not far behind them at 38, it is another reminder that perhaps the greatest era for Irish jump jockeys in the history of the sport is drawing to its close. Geraghty’s first big winner in Britain was as a teenager on Miss Orchestra for Jessica Harrington, his long-term ally, in the 1998 Midlands Grand National. In 1999-00 he was champion jump jockey in Ireland for the first of two times. In 2003, a few weeks after riding five winners at the Cheltenham Festival and earning his reputation as a man for the big occasion, he rode the Jimmy Mangan trained Monty’s Pass to victory in the Grand National, enjoying such a dream ride he described it as "like a schooling session". He can rightly claim to have ridden two of the best two mile chasers of the current century in Moscow Flyer and Sprinter Sacre, he won the Gold Cup on Kicking King and Bobs Worth, who he had also sold as a young horse to Nicky Henderson and four Champion Hurdles on four different horses: Punjabi, Jezki, Buveur d’Air and Epatante. A candidate for one of his finest rides was when Riverside Theatre, who was off the bridle after three fences, beat the AP McCoy-ridden Alberta’s Run in the 2012 Ryanair Chase. You could divide up his career into riding mainly for three people: Jessica Harrington, Nicky Henderson, when he commuted the Irish Sea for eight seasons, and then the owner JP McManus. “They were all connected,” he pointed out. “Jessie introduced me to Nicky and they both trained for JP.”
The TelegraphOxted can triumph in Darley July Cup after skipping Royal Ascot
The Darley July Cup brings together three of the first four home in the Diamond Jubilee, the Commonwealth Cup winner, and a St James’s Palace also-ran dropping back in trip. But it is a gelding which skipped Ascot, Oxted, that can hold sway on Saturday. This is a race that Frankie Dettori, on Sceptical, has yet to win and it is also one of the few which eluded Kieren Fallon. But on Oxted, who improved through the ranks last year to win the Portland and kicked off this season winning the Abernant, his son Cieren can put the family record straight as well as winning his first Group One winner. Roger Teal has his Lambourn string in flying form having won with Gussy Mac at Sandown on Sunday and Bear Force One at Newmarket on Thursday. “I’m very happy with him,” said Teal. “He wasn’t fully wound up so has come on for the Abernant. It was very firm at Newmarket and he was a bit stiff afterwards so we decided to miss Ascot and get him right.” He added: “The only worry would be the ground. Even though he is bred for it on both his dam and sire’s side his lesser efforts were when the ground was easy. But he’s a year older and stronger.” There is not much between Hello Youmzain, Sceptical, and Khaadem on their Diamond Jubilee form, although the extra experience gained from that race might help Sceptical reverse the form. Otherwise it will be a case of who gets the best run and that also goes for Commonwealth Cup winner Golden Horde, the principal three-year-old in this year’s race. On Friday, Dandalla, the Albany winner at Royal Ascot, added the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes to her collection and she could now head to the Morny in France for a clash with the Queen’s Tactical, while Nazeef took her winning sequence to six in winning the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes narrowly from Billesdon Brook.
