888sport ambassador Neil Callan (@neilcallan78) gives his thoughts on the biggest story in racing, as well as a look ahead to a book of rides at Windsor on Saturday...
Dettori and the Gosdens
I think there’s a bit much being made out of the Frankie situation to be honest.
Sometimes things are said in the heat of the moment when there’s a lot at stake in racing.
"A jockey must never be tied down to instructions... but our hero overcomplicated it yesterday!"
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 17, 2022
John Gosden offers further reflection on the Gold Cup yesterday with Stradivarius, and looks ahead with Inspiral after her brilliant Coronation Stakes win! #RoyalAscot pic.twitter.com/ZYUAj0FB09
Frankie’s still one of the best in the world. He’s been great for our sport and you can’t ride the perfect race every time.
Nobody is perfect and you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth, which is something I learnt very well when riding in Hong Kong.
You’d lose rides all the time, then be back in the good books the next minute, so you’ve really just got to keep your chin up.
Winners in the Bague
I’m please with the way things are going in my first season back in the UK.
Obviously, having the Royal Ascot winner helped, particularly as I only had the one ride there all week!
Chris Wall’s Bague D’Or won a good race over 1m6f, and I got the feeling there’s a bit more left in the tank too.
Chris told me to hold onto him and he travelled much the best horse in the race.
He picked up well when I asked him and hit the line nicely - hopefully he’s one that can continue improving over these staying trips.
Unfortunately, I did end up with an 8-day improper ban, but I’ve appealed that, so we’ll see what happens there.
New Definition won well at Kempton. He’s a nice horse that I thought would have won a race a bit sooner as he’s been very good in his homework.
He went close first time up at Doncaster, and then the ground at Leicester went against him as there was a downpour right before the race.
The step up to six furlongs worked out well and I think he should improve a bit more too.
Royal ride at Windsor
I’ve got five decent chances at Windsor on Saturday, starting with Royal Mariner (2:15pm), again for James Tate.
He needed his first couple of runs and he might be better when going into handicaps, but is a decent type of horse.
There’s only three of us running in the fillies’ conditions race (2:48pm), and Asian Queen ran well enough first time up so I’d say she’s in with a shout.
Perotto is a capable horse but needs to bounce back from a disappointing run at Ascot if he’s to win the Listed Midsummer Stakes (3:20pm).
There’s only four of us in there, but it’s a competitive contest and we need to find a bit on ratings with the likes of My Oberon and Modern News.
David [Menusier] is a clever trainer who’s hopefully picked the right race (4:30pm) for Belloccio now.
He’s run well at Group 2 level and clearly possesses plenty of ability, so lets hope he’s at his best.
On his best form in this sort of company you’d like to think he’ll be bang there, but we’ve for to shoulder top-weight and there are some lesser exposed four-year-olds in there.
In the novice stakes (5:05pm), I’ve got What’s In The Bag for Roger Teal.
He chased Royal Aclaim when I rode her to win on her seasonal reappearance a couple of weeks ago.
Anything that finished in behind here is worth keeping an eye on and Roger’s horses are starting to come good now too, so hopefully he can take a step forward.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 24th June 2022
