YEATS continued his domination of the staying division with a second victory in the Royal Bank Of Scotland Goodwood Cup yesterday – although trainer Aidan O'Brien missed the spectacle after his flight was grounded in Ireland.
The Coolmore hierarchy were unable to leave Waterford Airport due to heavy morning rainfall, but thankfully Yeats and jockey Johnny Murtagh made it to the Sussex Downs to put in an exhibition performance.
Racing for the first time since matching S
agaro's record of three Gold Cups at Royal Ascot, the 8-15 favourite used his well-documented huge heart and lungs to capture the two-mile event by a whopping seven lengths.
Darryll Holland on Tungsten Strike towed him up, down and round the contours of the rolling track before Murtagh gathered his mount up to pounce at the top of the hill.
The seven-year-old gathered a full head of steam and ploughed past the front-runner two furlongs out for the most comfortable of victories, with Godolphin's Sagara following the pair home in third.
Yeats – a one-time Derby favourite – is now unbeaten in his three runs this year and was the shortest-priced winning favourite of the Goodwood Cup since Longboat obliged in 1986 at 1-3.
Murtagh said: "It was very straightforward and I suppose today was easier than Ascot as he settled so well. We went a good pace and he travelled around there easy. I was always in control and had Darryll in my sights all the way.
"At the top of the straight I asked him to extend on a long rein and he quickened up well.
"It was then just a matter of keeping going when he hits the front, but he is in great form at the moment and Seamus (Heffernan) who rides him out at home says he has improved from Ascot. It is just so smooth and he gave me an armchair ride."
Although not a Group 1 race – of which Ballydoyle have captured 16 so far this season – the Goodwood Cup is another major trophy for Team Ballydoyle. Murtagh added: "He is just another one of those great horses we have down there at the moment and he is the top stayer in the yard at the moment. We have a couple more there snapping at his heels and Aidan's biggest problem will probably be picking between Septimus and him."
Rod Millman called time on his stable star and former Horse of the Year Sergeant Cecil after the veteran came home last of the eight runners.
Murtagh fell foul of the stewards when spotted using a mobile phone outside of the official area for calls, and was fined £290, but he received a ringing endorsement from one of the best positioned of authorities as he steered Enticing to the second Goodwood victory of her career in the Audi Stakes.
The filly is trained by William Haggas, whose wife Maureen compared the Irish rider to her father to Lester Piggott, perhaps the greatest horseman of all time, after he returned the 9-1 chance from a spell in the doldrums. Enticing was without a win since May 2007 but with an earlier juvenile prize on the Sussex Downs in the Molecomb Stakes already in the bag, she was familiar with the unusual contours.
From a position right in the middle of the track, Enticing suddenly discovered her almost forgotten turn of foot to prise the Group 3 event from the clutches of Masta Plasta and Dandy Man on the far side.
"Johnny is just a genius – the closest thing to my father," said Mrs Haggas.
Gravitation (9-2), in the famous apricot silks of Lady Howard de Walden, lowered Godolphin's royal blue colours in the Moet Hennessy Fillies' Stakes.
Frankie Dettori had the Group 3 in sight with a canny front-running ride on Folk Opera but Alan Munro administered a more forceful one aboard Gravitation to pinch it on the line.
The full article contains 666 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
