Italian jockey celebrates defeat over Mickaël Barzalona in the most prestigious race of Flat racing’s centrepiece meetingAscot has been generous to Frankie Dettori throughout his quarter-century in the saddle however the grand stage, the moment and the script have rarely combined with such sympathy as in the closing stages of Thursday’s Gold Cup. Dettori is still much closer to the end of his riding career than the beginning however, thanks to a dense-fought success on Colour Vision, not quite as close as it seemed on Thursday morning.Dettori arrived at Ascot with just a single winner from 42 rides in June, a strike-rate of 2%. He was riding at Haydock instead of at Epsom on Derby day earlier this month and had seen a series of high-profile rides for the Godolphin operation – where he is referred to as the senior jockey – pass to Mickaël Barzalona, a rider half his age.He left with a fifth win in the Royal meeting’s feature event to his designation and, more significantly, his status and confidence restored, for the moment at least. Barzalona is clearly the coming male at Godolphin however Dettori, fair to character, is not going to go quietly.Colour Vision’s win was a triumph for Dettori in every path. He picked the fair one from Godolphin’s two runners, with the ride on Belief Poll – the runner-up to Fame And Glory in at the end year’s Gold Cup – passing to Barzalona. And it was Barzalona who ranged up alongside Dettori in the closing stages, only to be beaten off as Colour Vision found the extra stamina that had persuaded Dettori to choose him in the first place.Despite all the payouts he has earned for them down the years, the Ascot punters chose – albeit narrowly – that Dettori had got it incorrect. Colour Vision, running in the race for the first age, was sent off at 6-1 with Belief Poll a mark shorter in the betting, while the fantastic bulk of their cash was riding with Fame And Glory, the 4-5 favourite.Much inside the final furlong, there were still those who doubted him. By immediately, Fame And Glory was already a spent energy, finding nothing after spending much of the race hemmed in on the rails behind a slow pace.Dettori had found a much bigger position on Colour Vision close behind the leaders and could choose his moment to strike in the straight however, much so, he still reached 14-1 in the in-running market on Betfair as Barzalona launched his challenge.The precarious nature of lifetime as a top jockey, much one who has loved as much success as Dettori, was summed up in the final furlong. The best jobs are so scarce and available so rarely that there will always be a young pretender measuring himself up for your role.Had Colour Vision faltered and allowed Belief Poll to get past, it would have been Barzalona who loved a warm embrace from Sheikh Mohammed, Godolphin’s founder, in the winner’s enclosure. Instead, it was Dettori who received a hug from “the boss” and the balance of ability among Godolphin’s jockeys shifted a small further away from its tipping mark.The stewards called an inquiry to consider the circumstance that Colour Vision had interfered with Belief Poll in the closing stages however took only a hardly any small minutes to confirm that the result would not be altered. The winning margin of half a length was enough to convince them that no injustice had taken place.”Me and Mickael are fantastic friends,” Dettori said, “however you are by yourself when you are outside there and you desire to win for yourself. It doesn’t affair who is in the end, as you always try to win. This race is gone. I have to do it in the following immediately.”So, for that affair, does Godolphin, and whether this win marks a turning of the corner or just a brief high mark in a frustrating season remains to be seen. This was the first Collection One victory for the royal blue silks in Europe this year and only the fourth in all, following a Grade One at Belmont Park in Fresh York and two, including the Dubai Earth Cup, at Meydan, their “house” track, in March.Aidan O’Brien has won more Collection Ones than Godolphin in Britain alone, despite having nothing like the numerical strength of the Godolphin string, which has at least 300 horses split between Saeed bin Suroor – trainer of Colour Vision – and Mahmood al-Zarooni, who was responsible for Belief Poll.Colour Vision is a gelding and so will not be joining the stallions in the Sheikh’s Darley Stud operation, while Camelot, O’Brien’s average-bearer this season, is poised to pick up where his late sire, Montjeu, left off as one of the most sought-after stallions at the Coolmore Stud.”These banner races encircling the earth are what we desire to win,” Simon Crisford, Godolphin’s racing manager, said, “and the Gold Cup is the cream of the cream.” A Collection One-winning colt at eight or 10 furlongs would be much bigger from a extended-term mark of view, however, and, with the imaginable exception of Farhh, who suffered a dreadful run when third in Wednesday’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, their prospects gaze thin.Dettori, though, has a more immediate chance to build on this success, when he partners Mick Channon’s Laugh Outside Loud, one of the market leaders, in the Collection One Coronation Stakes on Friday. Barzalona, who rides Irish History in the Godolphin colours, may be about to learn that, when Dettori is on a roll, he is a dense male to stop.Frankie DettoriMickaël BarzalonaRoyal Ascot 2012Royal AscotGodolphinHorse racingGreg Woodguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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