PICTURE SPECIAL - Glorious Goodwood: Big Orange shows his true colours again
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The Michael Bell-trained Big Orange became the first horse since Double Trigger in 1997 and 1998 to retain the Goodwood Cup thanks to a gutsy length-and-a quarter success in the Group 2 Qatar-sponsored £300,000 contest.
It was the highlight of a rain-hit Ladies’ Day when light drizzle and mist spread across the Downs for the last couple of hours of the afternoon.
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Hide AdThe Jamie Spencer-ridden colt led throughout the two-mile Goodwood Cup. Turning for home, the son of Duke Of Marmalade was still travelling well for Spencer despite horses lining up in behind ready to challenge the gelding.
The five-year-old was not for passing and fended off the challenge of second-placed Pallasator and third-home Sheikhzayedroad.
What chance him coming back and completing a remarkable treble in a year’s time?
Delighted Bell said: “Big Orange is a very brave horse. He gives his all. He has got as very good mind and engine and he has good limbs as well - that combination is a potent force.
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Hide Ad“Big Orange is an enormous horse and big horses tend to mature with age. It is a bit of cliché but like a fine wine he is getting better with age. He is just a star and we are so lucky to have him. He has a massive stride and such a high cruising speed. Touch wood he is very clean-limbed and loves this fast ground.
“He was a very raw product as yearling and was a box-walker so he didn’t go to the sales as he would have made a ham sandwich. It’s great because he has now won a lot of prize money with still more to come.
“He won well today and won the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket by two lengths this year. Last year he won those races by a neck and half a length so you would have to say he has improved and I think the handicapper would probably say he has as well.”
Bell suggested another trip to the Melbourne Cup, in which he finished a two and a half-length fifth last year was a possibility: “Bill [Gredley, co-owner] is not so keen [on Melbourne Cup] but Tim (Gredley) is very keen and I am quite keen, although I think we need to see what weight he gets before we commit.”
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Hide AdJockey Jamie Spencer explained that he had an armchair ride throughout. “I had a very easy race,” said the jockey, celebrating his 13th success at Glorious.
“He was bowling along in front nicely. I was a little bit concerned that the rain had got in the ground but, other than that, there were no worries.
“They just about matched him for pace between the three furlong pole and the last furlong but, when I gave him a smack, he took off again and that did for the rest of them. Last year, he was a very good horse but this year, he’s improved again.”
Trainer Sir Mark Prescott was delighted with the performance of Pallasator, who finished the one-and-a-quarter length runner-up behind Big Orange.
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Hide Ad“I thoroughly enjoyed watching it as we had this convoluted Prescott plan that came off perfectly,” said Prescott. “I’m lucky to have a jockey (Oisin Murphy) who could have carried it off perfectly too. From my point of view, it was a joy to watch. It’s just a shame that beastly thing kept on going!”
Trainer David Simcock was also happy with Sheikhzayedroad, who finished a further head back in third place.
The Goodwood Cup, which is one of the Group 2 races Goodwood bosses would love to see bumped up to Group 1 status, followed the Qatar Richmond Stakes, another Group 2 contest. That one brought joy to the festival’s Qatari sponsors as Mehmas defied a 3lb penalty to land the prize and give Frankie Dettori his first win of this festival, which he celebrated with a flying dismount.
The 7/2 shot had to dig deep to repel the challenge of runner-up and 5/6 favourite Blue Point, and the two-year-old stuck to his guns admirably, eventually prevailing by a neck, with the pair three lengths clear of their other two rivals.