David Ord says farewell to Cracksman but hopes to see Roaring Lion again
David Ord bids farewell to Cracksman but hopes there might still be a final chapter in the Roaring Lion story.
THE UNFULFILLED CHAMPION?
Cracksman ran his final race at Ascot on Saturday and heads into a retirement a two-time winner of the QIPCO Champion Stakes.
He was officially the hightest-rated middle-distance performer of 2017 – and there’s every chance he’ll pick up the same mantle this time around – but he goes to the stallion shed after a racing career that left those of us watching on somewhat unfulfilled.
We certainly weren’t on those two autumn days in Berkshire. A seven-length thumping of Poet’s Word and six lengths demolition of Crystal Ocean, with his jockey spending the final half furlong celebrating, were performances of a true champion.
But what went on in between somewhat tarnish his legacy – although in many ways it wasn't his fault.
Cracksman’s four-year-old campaign was blighted by the hottest, driest, summer in recent memory. As we basked in the sunshine, he stayed at Clarehaven.
John Gosden had him ready for the King George at Ascot and Juddmonte International at York but he missed both because of the prevailing fast ground.
He certainly didn’t look the same horse on that surface at Royal Ascot when he never threatened to land a telling blow to Poet's Word – yes the same Poet’s Word who got a rear-view of him in the Ascot mud the previous October.
He was reportedly distracted by the fillies before the race but it was a laboured performance, one which raised questions we didn’t think he'd ever have to answer, particularly after a fluent reappearance win in the Ganay.
But there were warning signs in the Investec Coronation Cup at Epsom. True, he ran into a well-ridden rival in Salouen but the way he scrambled home on his favoured surface wasn’t Box Office Cracksman.
There was talk he was dazed after banging his head in the stalls – that he didn’t handle the track despite winning there and finishing third in the Investec Derby the previous year. But it was unconvincing – and then came Ascot.
At that stage it seemed Cracksman needed a psychiatrist as much as a trainer – but he was in the right hands to be rebuilt. The skills and patience of the champion and his team brought their star back for one final hurrah in first-time blinkers.
Racing Post Ratings having him running to the same exalted figure as the previous season – but you can’t help but watch the replay with tinges of regret.
At three Cracksman never met the top older horses. At four he didn’t lock horns with the Classic generation. There was no Arc clash with Enable in either year, no battle for local bragging rights with Roaring Lion.
The weather played its part but so did Cracksman’s own idiosyncrasies. When everything was right he was brilliant, but those two Ascot performances stand out like beacons on his dancecard.
He was good on other days – but never as good as that.
He retires as the winner of eight of 11 career starts and seven of his last eight, including four Group Ones.
He heads to stud as Frankel’s best son and a wonderful physical specimen. A two-time Champion Stakes winner, he won’t be short of patronage.
But while Cracksman lit up QIPCO British Champions Day for two successive seasons, he couldn't do the same to the campaigns as a whole.
And that's the sense of regret that goes with him.
SHOT TO NOTHING
David Redvers was bang on the money when he described the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a "shot to nothing" for Roaring Lion on Luck On Sunday.
Providing the remarkable Kitten’s Joy colt comes out of his Queen Elizabeth II Stakes exertions okay the temptation to run must be too strong to resist.
There’s nothing to lose. His legacy is secure and if – like so many before him – he finds the slog on the Churchill Downs dirt not to his liking, he can exit stage left with his head held high.
Saturday’s race marked his first Group One success at a mile – but we learned more about his toughness than his versatility down that straight course.
He hated the testing going, as connections feared he would, and never looked happy – but neither did he ever look like losing. He just got on with the job in hand, ground it out in a way that never looked to be in his locker early in his career.
This was the Roaring Lion who threw the Racing Post Trophy away last season when getting worried out of it by a rallying Saxon Warrior.
The same colt who barely raised a gallop through the Craven, who raced solo and away from the main action in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas.
But he's also the Roaring Lion who found his mojo in the Dante and reeled off top-flight successes in the Coral-Eclipse, Juddmonte International, Irish Champion and now QEII.
The aggregate winning distance of those top-flight triumphs is around four lengths. There was never the wide-margin romps that Cracksman will be remembered for, but tactical triumphs against the best the Classic generation and the older brigade could throw at him.
This is the horse of the year – and the training performance of the season. It was no surprise that while he still circled in the winners’ enclosure on Saturday confirmation came through that he wouldn’t race on at four.
Qatar Racing have a stallion to stand at their Tweenhils Stud as they look to build their own breeding empire.
Here’s hoping he’s a roaring success – but there could still be one final chapter to write on the track before that.
It’s hard to made a pedigree case for him thriving on the surface at Churchill Downs but his high cruising speed and ability to get the job done in a fight down the home stretch are two crucial qualities for any horse boarding the plane to Kentucky.
Let's hope he’s on it.
ABSENT FRIENDS
On Saturday Godolphin landed their 13th British Champion Flat Owners title. Their revival has been one of the feel-good stories of the campaign.
But at Ascot they were limited to two runners, French raider Kitesurf and the admirable Harry Angel for Clive Cox.
Their two in-house trainers, Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor, couldn’t muster a single one between them.
Now, it is a congested international schedule at this time of year and in the early hours of Saturday morning Best Solution landed the Caulfield Cup for bin Suroor and Pat Cosgrave.
Benbatl, Loxley, Brundtland Ghaiyyath, Royal Marine and Jungle Cat are others to taste big-race success on their travels this term and clearly the global operation targets the big European and worldwide prizes with great success.
However, such a light Ascot team also underlines a lack of strength in depth that needs addressing. It’s easier said than done but if Gosden’s magic touch can transfer to the sales’ ring – where he’s been helping recruit new talent for the Boys In Blue - then there’s hope.
More significantly the boycott of the Coolmore stallions is a thing of the past and they finally have access to the gene pool which has dominated the British Classic scene for going on two decades.
Godolphin will lead the way with runners at the Dubai Carnival in March. Let’s hope they're an increased presence at the big British Festivals next year too.
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