Gutsy Noble Mission Makes All for Ascot Win
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Juddmonte Farms' Noble Mission led from the start in the QIPCO Champion Stakes (Eng-I) and showed the heart of lion in repelling the challenge from Al Kazeem to get the win Oct. 18 at Ascot.
The race was the featured event on British Champion Day, which included four other stakes in various divisions.
Noble Mission is a full brother to Frankel, who closed his career undefeated in 14 starts with a victory in the 2012 edition of the race for trainer Henry Cecil, who died the following June. Cecil's wife, Jane, took the reins of his iconic Warren Place stables in Newmarket and sent out Noble Mission.
"I knew that if he won, it would be a fairytale and it absolutely was," said Lady Cecil
A 5-year-old homebred son of Galileo—Kind, by Danehill, Noble Mission scored by a neck after battling a tenacious Al Kazeem over the heavy turf through the final furlong. Al Kazeem momentarily poked his head in front with a sixteenth to run but he could not hold the advantage from the determined winner.
Free Eagle was 1 1/4 lengths back in third, and 7-4 favorite Cirrus des Aigles, the Champion winner in 2011 and runner-up in the 2012 and 2013, slogged in to finish fifth after racing wide throughout.
"He had a good run but unfortunately I didn't have any power when I came into the straight today," said jockey Christophe Soumillon.
The winner was quick from the gate and settled into a relaxed tempo as Al Kazeem pursued from second, about a length back. The two hooked up to battle it out in the final eighth of a mile but Noble Mission ultimately proved too strong.
Ridden by James Doyle, Noble Mission covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:11.23 at 7-1 odds. He won for the fifth time in seven starts this season and improved his career line to 9-6-2 from 21 starts, rebounding from a close runner-up finish to Lucky Lion in the Grosser Dallmayr Preis-Bayerishces Zuchtrennen (Ger-I) July 27 at Munich.
Noble MIssion strung together four-race win streak earlier this season that included the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Ire-I) in May and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-I) in June.
Doyle has also piloted multiple group I winner Al Kazeem in the past and had praise for the 6-year-old son of Dubawi who returned to racing this summer after disappointing in the stud.
"Straight away as soon as I saw his head I knew it was him and he's ran an absolute cracker," Doyle told Racing Post. "Al Kazeem is good, but this fella is unbelievable—he just relaxes in the lead now.
"It is a great team effort by everybody at Warren Place. He was tough and I thought Al Kazeem had the better of us at one point, but luckily he saved enough for the final half furlong. He is gutsy, tough and versatile and the family just improves with age."