Big Orange Gets Best of Order of St George in Gold Cup

Big Orange ran the biggest race of his career June 22, dug in gamely in the final yards to hold off defending champion Order Of St George, and won by a desperate nose in the Gold Cup (G1), the featured race on the middle day of Royal Ascot.

The victory was the first at the top level for the globetrotting gelding, securing his connections a meeting with Her Majesty the Queen, who by tradition handed over the specially designed hardware after the marathon.

Big Orange, with James Doyle aboard, took over the lead after the first mile of the 2 1/2-mile Royal Ascot set piece. Without much pressure at that point, he got a bit of a breather as the field headed up the hill from Swinley Bottom.

Ryan Moore had Order Of St George, last year's Gold Cup winner, well back but started to improve his position. On the turn, Moore was forced to swing widest of all and still had many lengths to make up. A furlong out, he was gaining, but could not quite get there.

"I wish the second had joined me earlier," Doyle said. "I'd have won by more."

Doyle took over the ride from the injured Frankie Dettori and said Dettori, through a telephone call earlier in the week, was a massive help in the win.

"He was spot on: 'Don't interfere with him,'" Doyle reported. "I had Frankie's words in my head."

Big Orange has raced in top company from Australia and Hong Kong to Dubai, but broke through to win at the top level for the first time. The 6-year-old Duke of Marmalade gelding is trained by Michael Bell.

"We knew we would probably have to do the donkey work, but we were happy to do that," Bell said. "You can't check his stride pattern.

"It's the feature race of the meeting—an epic race taking on a very good horse in a proper horse race—and I can't tell you the pride I have got in Big Orange."

The Gold Cup is one of the most anticipated races of the year for the British racing public. But Thursday's racing at Ascot also provided some positive spin for this year's prime group 1 events at Epsom for 3-year-olds—the Investec Derby and the Investec Oaks—as the fifth-place finishers in each of those classics posted a win.

Coronet, fifth in the Oaks, overcame all kinds of adversity to get home a narrow winner in the Ribblesdale Stakes (G2), where she defeated Mori by a neck, with stretch leader Hertford Dancer a fading third.

With Olivier Peslier up for trainer John Gosden, Coronet settled well behind a breakaway leader in the 1 1/2-mile Ribblesdale, the "Oaks of Royal Ascot." By midstretch Hertford Dancer was in full flight and on the lead and Coronet was trapped on the rail, well behind.

Without checking his filly, Peslier switched about six-wide and put the pedal to the metal. He and Mori both came flying toward the dramatic finish.

Coronet, a Dubawi filly owned and bred by Denford Stud, was two-for-two as a juvenile. She ran third in a group 1 at Deauville in France in her prep for the Oaks.

Gosden said he wasn't convinced until the end.

"I thought Hertford Dancer had the race won," he said. "I thought Mori had it won. And then Olivier came and grabbed it."

"John said that she would take a bit of time, but when she comes, she comes well," Peslier said. "This was the reason I didn't panic, took a bit of time, and came back late. I am very patient and I didn't want to kill her between horses. I preferred to take my time."

Benbatl, fifth in the Derby, rallied to the lead in the straight in the Hampton Court Stakes (G3) and held off the favorite, Orderofthegarter, in the final yards to win by a half-length. Mirage Dancer came in third and Taj Mahal held fourth after he set the early pace.

The result gave Godolphin another Royal Ascot win over archrival Coolmore. It also provided trainer Saeed bin Suroor his first winner of the meeting and jockey Oisin Murphy the first win of his career at the Royal meeting.

Murphy, normally reserved on the course, celebrated enthusiastically as he nailed the win.

"I don't celebrate very often," he admitted. "But this one meant the world to me."

Benbatl, a Dubawi colt, was mixing it up in top company without a win since his maiden score at Doncaster in April. His best previous effort was a second behind Permian in the Betfred Dante Stakes (G2) at York.

"He finished fifth in the Derby and he ran well," bin Suroor said. "But he came from too far back and finished strong, so we thought that a mile and a quarter would be better for him. Sheikh Mohammed made the decision to run him in today's race and Benbatl is obviously improving all the time."

Bin Suroor said Benbatl will be pointed toward the Champion Stakes (G1) back at Ascot in October, with intervening events yet to be decided.

In the day's other group race, Sioux Nation, a Scat Daddy colt campaigned by Coolmore and trainer Aidan O'Brien, had just enough at the end to take the Norfolk Stakes (G2) for 2-year-olds by a half-length over Santry. Cardsharp came in third and the American hope, McErin, faded to finish seventh after he showed the way for the first few furlongs.

Sioux Nation, with Moore up, settled in a group of four on the outside rail, while McErin, under substitute rider David Flores, shifted from his middle gate to lead the main pack along the stands-side rail. The inside was the "golden" spot during the first two days of the Royal meeting but, with cooler weather and a wind, that didn't carry over for the Norfolk.

Sioux Nation finished third, then second, then first to start his career but could do no better than sixth in his last start before Royal Ascot when he caught yielding turf at the Curragh.

"He's a massive horse—a big, powerful horse—and to be doing this at this time of his career is incredible, really," O'Brien said. "He's a horse everyone at home loved from the first time he worked and I'm delighted."

Moore said Sioux Nation was happy with the firm ground after hot baking weather abated just a bit for Thursday's races.

"He has got back on that ground today and always travelled like the winner," the rider said. "He was a bit lonely on his own, but he is a very good colt.

In the day's final race, the incomparable Frankel got his first Royal Ascot winner as a sire, as Atty Persse got home first in the King George V Handicap at 1 1/2 miles—a distance Frankel himself never attempted. Atty Persse's victory was the fifth winner for Godolphin this week and a first Royal Ascot triumph for apprentice jockey Kieran Shoemark.