Cracksman can deliver for Dettori at Royal Ascot

To most socks-bereft, casual racegoers, Frankie Dettori is the fun-loving, always jocular jockey whose smile is as wide as the Mediterranean. He’s the chipper Italian who leaps from his horses after big-race winners, which is a feat all the more remarkable at an age (47-and-a-half) where most of us are creaking when we walk up a flight of stairs.

But there is a side to him that some don’t always see, a done-it-all-what’s-left weariness. Perhaps it is the constant grind of traipsing up motorways or longing for a good meal. Yet he has heard every obvious question, and while he is one of the most accommodating characters in the game – indeed, no-one has done more to keep racing’s profile afloat – on rare occasions he can be a little prickly.

It may just have been the early start, but Dettori showed a glimpse of that irked side when asked about Cracksman’s narrow, skin-of-the-teeth victory in the Coronation Stakes at Epsom.

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“I’m sick and tired of people asking me ‘How’s Cracksman?’” Dettori said at a press briefing last week, ahead of Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the feature on the second day of Royal Ascot.

“He’s fine. He doesn’t like Epsom. He really struggles downhill but he likes Ascot,” he added.

And if anyone should know about a penchant for the Berkshire track, it is Dettori, who rode all seven winners on Champions’ Day in September 1996, an historic moment acknowledged as the ‘magnificent seven’.

Yet spare a thought for those posing the question about Cracksman’s well-being. After all, the 1m2f St James’s Palace Stakes has been a graveyard for odds-on favourites in recent years.

Cracksman looks like the banker of the week, having won his last five races, including the Qipco Champion Stakes over course and distance last October and is the current 4/7 favourite with Genting Bet to notch a fourth successive win at the highest level.

Yet no fewer than three odds-on favourites have failed to deliver in this race in the last eight years. So You think (4/11 in 2011), Treve (8/13 in 2014) and A Shin Hikara (8/13 in 2016) all flopped, while well-backed favourites Camelot (2013) and Jack Hobbs (2017) were also turned over.

The question regarding whether Cracksman (4.20) has cracks is therefore not without foundation.

John Gosden’s four-year-old will face six rivals, who include Brigadier Gerard Stakes winner Poet’s Word, Tattersalls Gold Cup runner-up Cliffs Of Moher and Hawkbill, who was thrashed 25 lengths by Cracksman at Epsom.

It is sadly not the strongest renewal and it may turn into a tactical affair, but Cracksman is expected to win – and win comfortably.

The feature on another scintillating afternoon is supplemented by three Group 2 contests, the first of which is the Queen Mary Stakes, a 5f dash for two-year-old fillies.

Anyone who has sired a human or equine will know how difficult fillies can be at that age. Some even become somewhat manageable as they get older, so I hear.

Yet American handler Wesley Ward is one of the best in the world with juveniles and it is a major surprise that he hasn’t branched out and opened a crèche or two.

The Ward-trained Chelsea Cloisters won a 4.5f dirt race by eight lengths on her debut at Keeneland and is trying turf for the first time. Her work has been excellent since her arrival and she has bags of pace to match her inexperience. She could be anything yet her reputation belies her price at the head of the market.

If anyone can match Ward’s mastery of juveniles this side of the pond it is Clive Cox, and he saddles Shades Of Blue (2.30), who overcame inexperience (particularly in the preliminaries) to win on her debut over course and distance, quickening up nicely to beat a few of those who renew rivalry in the 22-strong field. She is not ideally drawn in stall 22 and will need jockey Adam Kirby to find a bit of cover, but she may be good enough to overcome her awkward berth.

The 1m6f Queen’s Vase has been dominated by Aidan O’Brien in recent years. He was responsible for three of the last five winners and holds the key to this Group 2 contest again, saddling three of the first four in the betting. They are headed by the frustrating Kew Gardens, who was twice a beaten favourite in his last three runs, before finishing a tame ninth in the Derby last time.

He may well bounce back at the expense of Navan Listed winner Southern France, but preference is for Nelson (3.10), who won the Ballysax Stakes before having his colours lowered by subsequent Derby fifth Hazapour in the Derrinstown Derby Trial. If there is a slight concern, it will be the quicker ground. While he has not encountered it in the past, he is a son of Frankel, who bounced off it, and it is possible he may improve for a sounder surface.

O’Brien has every chance of recording a quick double with Hydrangea (3.40, NAP) in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes. She won the Group 1 Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot last October and perhaps found that 1m was too short on her seasonal return at the Curragh when beaten under two lengths by Opal Tiara, Ryan Moore having attempted to make all the running. She should come on a bit for that and will bloom for the extra distance.

The Royal Hunt Cup is, as usual, a Cavalry charge. Run over the straight mile, this handicap comprises 28 runners. So, jolly good luck! A couple to note at each-way prices are Flaming Spear and Bless Him (5.00). The former is having his first run for Dean Ivory, having been in the care of Kevin Ryan until May. He has not run since October, but won a competitive 17-runner handicap at Haydock off a 4lb lower mark last summer.

Bless Him, trained by David Simcock, has the benefit of a run under his belt, and while will need to improve markedly from it, he won the Britannia Handicap here last year off a 10lb lower mark and should go well for Oisin Murphy.

The Royal Ascot Racing Club, which celebrates its 20th birthday, is a syndicate of owners who have shares in several thoroughbred and will be represented in the 7f Jersey Stakes by Headway (5.35).

The William Haggas-trained three-year-old won the Listed Spring Cup on the all-weather at Lingfield in March, but did not see out a mile of the 2,000 Guineas and a drop back in trip might work the oracle. He has already experienced the hubbub of a Royal meeting, coming close to winning the Coventry Stakes here last year.

Wednesday’s Selections:

ROYAL ASCOT: 2.30 Shades Of Blue, 3.05 Nelson, 3.40 HYDRANGRA (NAP), 4.10 Cracksman, 5.00 Flaming Spear, 5.35 Headway

HAMILTON PARK: 1.40 Usain Bolt, 2.10 Constant, 2.45 Aleef, 3.20 Dontgiveuponbob, 3.55 Sioux Frontier, 4.35 Strong Steps, 5.10 Riponian, 5.45 Competition

UTTOXETER: 2.20 Mr Burbidge, 2.55 Ilewin Geez, 3.30 Wishfull Dreaming, 4.05 Free Range, 4.45 Chimes Of Dylan, 5.20 Maid Of Milan, 5.50 Coisa Blanco

CHELMSFORD: 6.10 Kilbarchan, 6.40 Majeed, 7.10 Tropics (nb), 7.40 Carolinae, 8.10 Mountain Bell, 8.40 Dougan, 9.10 Scimitar

RIPON: 6.50 Star Of Zaam, 7.20 Doris Bleasedale, 7.50 Fabulous Red, 8.20 Midsummer Knight, 8.50 Doctor Cross, 9.20 Hula Girl

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