Unibet Vintage Stakes |
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| Group 2, Goodwood 14:25 £150,000 added, 2yo only, 7f, Class 1  |
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1 Angel Bleu 10/3
2 Berkshire Shadow 13/8F
3 Austrian Theory 16/1
6 ran NR: Lusail
Distances: ¾l, 1l, 3½l Time: 1m 32.85s (slow by 7.95s)
Angel Bleu lands a gamble to take the Unibet Vintage Stakes at @Goodwood_Races for @FrankieDettoriUnibet and @RalphBeckett pic.twitter.com/tS2BNmsWEi
— RacingBetter (@RacingBetter) July 27, 2021
https://t.co/K0gqaUiOPO via @RacingBetter
Ralph Beckett's charge was reversing Royal Ascot form with the runner-up who had him back in 13th when winning the Coventry Stakes.
That was on very different ground though and Andrew Balding's charge ran a huge race in second under his penalty but could never quite get to Frankie Dettori and Angel Bleu.
That partnership were backing up quickly after finishing second at Ascot on Saturday and the only scare came when veering left and bumping rivals a furlong out. Straightened out, the son of Dark Angel ran on strongly to win by three-quarters-of-a-length.
Beckett said: “Frankie got off him on Saturday and said ‘he’s been busy, give him a break’, so I thought we should leave him alone.
“(But) I fed him on Sunday and I looked at him sideways and thought ‘you don’t look like you’ve had a hard race to me at all’.
“I jogged him up and he bounced up the yard, (owner) Marc Chan’s racing manager called me up and said ‘why don’t we geld him now and send him to Hong Kong in the autumn, he can go there and have a good time’ – he was a little surprised when it rained and we decided to declare him!
“If we hadn’t declared and the field had fallen apart like this, I’d have been really, really cross with myself. With the rain last night I could hardly believe my luck.”
“He like a bit of juice and he likes soft ground, we’ll think about the Dewhurst now I should think.”
Of the Andrew Balding-trained Berkshire Shadow, rider Oisin Murphy said: “Off a slow pace he relaxed very well, but took a while to get going. When I gave him a kick he stayed on well and hit the line hard.
“I think he needs another furlong, as he saw out the trip really well.”
Unibet Vintage Stakes
£150,000 added, 2yo only, 7f, Class 1
6 ran
Going: Heavy, Soft in places
1 (6) Angel Bleu 2 9-1 Ralph Beckett Frankie Dettori 10/3
2 (5) ¾ Berkshire Shadow 2 9-4 Andrew Balding Oisin Murphy 13/8F
3 (2) 1 Austrian Theory 2 9-1 Mark Johnston Joe Fanning 16/1
4 (4) 3½ The Acropolis 2 9-1 A P O'Brien Ryan Moore 7/2
5 (1) ½ Eldrickjones 2 9-1 Roger Fell Daniel Tudhope 5/1
6 (7) 8½ Secret Strength 2 9-1 Richard Hannon Rossa Ryan 40/1
NR 2 (3) Lusail 2 9-4 Richard Hannon NON RUNNER
