Frankie Dettori enjoyed a sensational final ride in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot when steering the lightly-raced and unbeaten Courage Mon Ami to a famous victory.
Dettori, who announced he'll be retiring from the saddle at the end of 2023 in December last year, was claiming the ninth Gold Cup success of his stellar career and saluted the crowd as he crossed the line on the John and Thady Gosden-trained gelding.
Market leader Coltrane put up a brave fight under Oisin Murphy but had to settle for second behind the exciting winner, with former hero Subjectivist battling valiantly to hold on for third having made the running for Joe Fanning.
Courage Mon Ami was making only his fourth lifetime start, having won his three previous races over shorter distance. The 15/2 shot was settled near the back of the pack as Subjectivist, the winner two years ago, made most of the running, but Dettori took a risk and waited on the rail before sweeping through beaten horses and switching outside of Coltrane.
The four-year-old son of Frankel kept finding to beat the 11/4 favourite by three-quarters of a length.
Dettori's first victory in the feature race of Royal Ascot came courtesy of Drum Taps back in 1992 and he also won it three times on the bounce aboard Stradivarius from 2018 to 2020.
“Unbelievable! I thought it was a bridge too far from handicaps, but I had the perfect race,” said a jubilant Dettori, 52, who returned to a tremendous reception and even gave the Queen a kiss at the presentation ceremony.
“He’s still a baby, but when Coltrane came back he picked up again. I can’t hear myself talking!”
He went on: “I didn’t expect it. The last five years I had Stradivarius so the pressure was on, this one I thought was a bit of a chancer, coming from handicaps, but John was confident.
“I didn’t believe it, but I said to him he’s pulled a rabbit out of the hat. He’s a great trainer and he does things like that. Sometimes if I don’t believe it I just go along with it!
“I rode him cold and it just happened. I got the splits when I wanted to and in fairness he showed a turn of foot. In the last half a furlong I couldn’t get rid of Oisin and I thought ‘no, we’ve got this far, please keep going!’.
“Nine Gold Cups, what can you say? I’m speechless, to be honest.”
WATCH: Frankie wins on final Gold Cup ride aboard Courage Mon Ami
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John Gosden said: “He’s been mature at home but he didn’t run at two, he was a backend three-year-old winning on the all-weather and Mr Oppenheimer was very patient. He has a stud to run which is very expensive, hence this horse has been gelded so he sold him.
“He won well in a handicap and while we weren’t coming here for fun, it was Thady and Peter Shoemark’s (racing secretary) decision to enter him, not mine.
“The form is solid – you’ve Coltrane in second, a former winner in third and Emily Dickinson in fourth, so it was a superb performance.
“It was a great ride by Frankie, he saved every inch and slipped through and showed his nerves were better than ours.
“Whether he’d have ridden him if Haskoy had run I don’t know. I can’t claim him, I’ve never retained him, I never have and he rides for me when he can. He might well have ridden the filly as she had the St Leger form, how could he have ridden this? There were too many questions
“Luckily for him I was there as back up. I got the call and as soon as she wasn’t right, he’s like Lester Piggott that way.”
He added: “Rab Havlin had ridden him in all his other races, he’s like the guy who sets the car up for the Formula One driver. He’s been doing it for years and is patient about it. He just wishes Frankie would get the odd cold and flu!
“The owners had Gregory win the Queen’s Vase yesterday and it would be wonderful if they both ran in the Gold Cup next year, I’m sure the owners would run both as they are very sporting – but that’s a year ahead.
“This day last year wasn’t pleasant, there was a disagreement between owner, trainer and jockey. Things get heated, it wasn’t pleasant but we sorted it out within five days. In a 30 year marriage we’ve only had one argument which isn’t bad. I adore him, we adore each other and he’s a phenomenal character.
“Emotionally he can go to another level and this place brings the best out in him. He lets the crowd lift him, you see it in football and cricket matches, he responds to it. He’s not so good anymore on wet afternoons on a Monday.
“He’s 52 and he has always said he’s one accident away from retirement. He’s no fool, he’s wanted to go out at the top and he’s achieved that and that’s essential. I never wanted to see him like a boxer coming back in the ring taking punishment. We wanted him to go out at the top and that is what has been achieved.”
Timeform reaction - David Cleary
Those of us who arrived at Ascot fully expecting a stunning performance from an unbeaten Gosden-trained runner got one, only perhaps not quite the one we anticipated.
Recent effortless Goodwood winner Al Asifah fell short when sent off at odds on for the Ribblesdale Stakes, but Courage Mon Ami made light of a huge rise in class to land the Gold Cup on only his fourth racecourse appearance.
Having won just two novices on the all-weather and a Goodwood handicap off a mark of 98, Courage Mon Ami showed no signs of being a rookie on his first try in the big league, the manner in which he quickened from off the pace to the heels of the leaders when a gap appeared in the straight and then the way he saw off the determined challenge of the favourite Coltrane marked him out as one that could dominate the staying division this summer and beyond.
Coltrane went down by under a length, clear of the rest, and may well have run another career best. The 2021 winner Subjectivist ensured the race was a proper test of stamina and stuck to his task well to hold third, the placed pair and fourth Emily Dickinson giving plenty of substance to the form.
One other point worth noting about Courage Mon Ami – he followed Triple Time and Mostahdaf as the third first-time Group 1 winner of the week by his sire Frankel. Add in Chaldean and Soul Sister, and Frankel is having the sort of season as a stallion that might have been hoped for from his racing career.
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