Royal Ascot is all about history, and the greatest names of racing history were being reached for as gauges for the scale of Ryan Moore’s dominance at the 2015 meeting after a 789-1 hat-trick that brought his tally for the week to eight with two days remaining.
The last jockey to reach eight for the most competitive week’s racing of the year was Pat Eddery in 1989. Prior to him Lester Piggott managed eight in both 1965 and 1975. Those were in the days when the royal meeting was run over four days.
The dominant modern-day jockey rode three winners for Coolmore on Day Three, including a Norfolk Stakes-Britannia Handicap double for Aidan O’Brien, and a dramatic Ribblesdale Stakes success with David Wachman’s Curvy.
Luck
The idea it might have been even better had Moore enjoyed any luck at all on the Gold Cup runner-up Kingfisher will plague the Englishman more than anyone, as a trio of Irish hopes, including the favourite Forgotten Rules, chased home the 12-1 winner Trip To Paris.
Aidan O’Brien’s Waterloo Bridge surprised the Richard Hannon favourites, Log Out Island and King Of Rooks, in the Norfolk, and War Envoy successfully dropped to handicap company in the Britannia.
“Ryan is an unbelievable rider – probably the greatest jockey I’ve ever seen,” O’Brien said. “We are privileged to have him working with us. He is an absolute gentleman, 100 per cent straight, and a great judge of pace – a real professional in every way.”
Characteristically reluctant to indulge in hyperbole, Moore simply put his remarkable run of success down to being on the right horses, but those managing to get on the right horses in the first place usually do so by being recognisably different and Coolmore rarely get their jockey-pick wrong.
Derby choice
Whatever Moore’s final tally is this week, it will be his Irish Derby choice next week that will dictate the way many punters sway in the 150th edition of this country’s premier classic.
The Ribblesdale was supposed to confirm Pleascach’s position as a prime Irish Derby fancy, but Jim Bolger’s runner could finish only runner-up to Curvy and the extensive efforts carried out by the Curragh authorities to ramp up the competition for their big race looks like paying off.
An earlier Gallinule Stakes win earned the filly a free entry to take on the colts and Wachman said: “My plan was to run here and then the Derby, but we will see what colts the owners have to run and what fits in. There is also the Irish Oaks.”
