Doom Bar Celebration Mile |
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| Group 2, Goodwood 15:30 £100,000 added, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 1 |
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| Saturday 23rd August 2014 | |
1 Bow Creek 9/2
2 Emell 66/1
3 Captain Cat 9/4F
NR: Master Carpenter (IRE)
8 ran Distances: 1½l, nk, 1l
TIME 1m 37.76s (slow by 1.06s)
Joe Fanning gave Bow Creek a sparkling ride from the front to land the Doom Bar Celebration Mile
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Bow Creek completed a valuable Goodwood double for the Mark Johnston in the Doom Bar Celebration Mile.
Following four wins at last month's showpiece meeting, Johnston had returned to picturesque Sussex to snaffle the £100,000 32Red Stakes with front-running Almargo.
Bow Creek (9-2) then employed similar tactics in the Group Two - but very nearly threw it away when drifting dramatically to the left and reducing his ultimate winning margin to a length and a half.
Joe Fanning, one of the most industrious members of his profession, had caught his rivals half asleep with two furlongs remaining by pinching a handy advantage, and while Bow Creek did not exactly make it easy for him in the closing stages, his jockey had matters in hand.
The colt had finished third to Wannabe Yours in a Group Three at the Glorious meeting and could have an exciting end-of-season target.
"It was a great ride and Joe is on the top of his game, but he's a good horse and I thought we came here with a decent chance," said Johnston.
"Ryan Moore said he veered left in the Britannia at Ascot. We worked our horses on the track at Ascot, so perhaps he knew where the gate was. I don't know what happened this time, but he'd have won very well if he hadn't done it.
"He's had big entries before, races like the Jacques Le Marois, we've thought about it, but he's in the QEII. Now he's won a Group Two, I suppose we'll have to go for it."
The 9-4 favourite Captain Cat made up a vast amount of ground in the final stages to eventually finish third, a neck behind Emell.
There was an honest admission from jockey James Doyle, who said: "It was a nightmare of a race and I left him too much to do."
Royston Ffrench's last properly valuable winner had been here on Sea Lord in the 2010 Betfred Mile for Johnston and in the same green colours of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum.
He is seizing the lifeline thrown to him, making all the running on Almargo (16-1) and being in the right place on the far rail to hold on by two lengths from Rene Mathis.
"Royston was in a bit of a rut, he had a lot of rides without winning for us but he's back on song like he was a few years ago," said Johnston.
Celebration Mile (Group 2)
£100,000 added, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 1
8 ran
Going: Good, Gd to Firm in places on the round course
