CANFORD CLIFFS STRIKES GOLD IN QUEEN ANNE STAKES

Click above to watch Canford Cliffs winning the Queen Anne Stakes (Gr1)
(Image : Racing Post - Footage : Racing UK)

QUEEN ANNE STAKES (Group 1)
Royal Ascot, 1600m
14 June 2011

Yesterday’s G1 Queen Anne Stakes was billed as a two- horse race and that’s how it turned out, with the Heffer Syndicate, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith’s Canford Cliffs (Ire) (Tagula) prevailing ahead of Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa) in a thrilling renewal.

Moving with his customary gusto in rear early as Goldikova followed the pace cut out by her pacemaker Flash Dance (Ire) (Zamindar) and the aggressively ridden Cape Blanco (Ire) (Galileo), Canford Cliffs was hot on her heels as she moved to take over inside the final quarter. With Olivier Peslier - who rode two pounds overweight - hard at work to shake off his attentions passing the furlong pole, the writing was on the wall for the supermare, and Canford Cliffs was firmly on top at the line as Goldikova kept putting up her typical game effort.

“Olivier rode a terrific cat-and- mouse race, as I wasn’t going to kick until he did, and the quickest part of the race was the final two furlongs,” commented jockey Richard Hughes. “Ideally, I wanted to be right behind her and, luckily, I ended up in her slipstream. I have been confident about this horse since the first day I sat on him. He is amazing.” Trainer Richard Hannon added, “Goldikova is obviously a brilliant mare, but he’s a very good horse, so we had to take her on. It was the perfect race with two good pacemakers, and he has a real cruising speed and can quicken. He’s a very special horse to us - these ones don’t come along every day.” That trainer’s son and assistant Richard Hannon Jr. added, “He is probably the horse of a lifetime, and while Goldikova is becoming a legend already, maybe he is going the same way. He seems near unbeatable at a mile. My view is if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, but we’ll discuss plans with the owners. The G1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood July 27 is there and later on there is the Breeders’ Cup, Japan and Hong Kong, so we’ll pick our way.”

Goldikova’s trainer Freddy Head was magnanimous in defeat after witnessing the crowd’s applause on her return to the runner’s-up spot. “I am very happy with her, as she has run a great race, but there is nothing I can say other than she was beaten by a better horse on the day,” Head said. “He had a lovely run and followed us through and, as I’ve said before, this mile is tough, and is maybe a bit too far for her. These people know their horses and are very fond of champions, so it was a thrill to see their reaction to her afterwards. I think she’s run a top race and is as good as ever, so we will follow the same path, and head to Deauville in August, and then try and win a fourth Breeders’ Cup Mile.”

Bred in Ireland, Canford Cliffs is a great-grandson of the U.S. based stallion Stop the Music, and hails from an American female family as well. His third dam Triple Tipple (Raise a Cup) began her racing career in Europe before returning home to secure the GII Wilshire Handicap and GIII Palomar Handicap, and also was runner-up Sabin in the GI Gamely Handicap for trainer Richard Cross. Canford Cliffs, in whom an interest was sold last season to Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, has a 2-year-old half-brother by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) named Mayo Lad (Ire). That bay colt, sold for 100,000gns to Peter Doyle Bloodstock as a yearling at Tattersalls October, has joined his accomplished brother with trainer Richard Hannon. Their dam Mrs Marsh produced an Excellent Art (GB) colt last February.

QUEEN ANNE STAKES (Gr1)
Final Result

#	Horse	Sire	Jockey	Trainer
1	CANFORD CLIFFS (IRE)	Tagula	Richard Hughes	Richard Hannon
2	GOLDIKOVA (IRE)	Anabaa	Olivier Peslier	Freddy Head
3	CITYSCAPE (GB)	Selkirk	Ryan Moore	Roger Charlton
4	RIO DE LA PLATA (USA)	Rahy	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor
5	RANSOM NOTE (GB)	Red Ransom	Michael Hills	Barry Hills
6	CAPE BLANCO (IRE)	Galileo	Jamie Spencer	Aidan O’Brien
7	FLASH DANCE (IRE)	Zamindar	Mickael Barzalona	Freddy Head

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

INTERNATIONAL JOCKEYS CHALLENGE 2009

Team South Africa Captain, Anton Marcus
(Photo : Reuters/Shine2010)

“ARE JOCKEYS SOUTH AFRICA’S BEST SPORTSMEN?”

Mike MoonIn this morning’s The Times, Mike Moon poses the question, “Are jockeys South Africa’s best sportsmen?”

What is South Africa’s best sporting code? Don’t laugh, but a good case can be made for horse riding. The country’s jockeys, as a group, are arguably the best in the world.

The Springboks might win the occasional tournament, but their dominance is always fleeting and vulnerable to admin white-anting. Graeme Smith talks a good game, but does anyone believe the Proteas can mentally shackle that jailbird spawn from Down Under? Not really. Our pro golfers have a good claim to being South Africa’s most accomplished sportsmen - relatively, numbers-wise etc.

But the little guys are also pretty big, so to speak. Wherever South African-trained jockeys go, they succeed.

The great Muis Roberts was champion of Britain, Basil Marcus topped the log seven times in racing-mad Hong Kong, and countryman Dougie Whyte is now on his way to a 10th straight Hong Kong championship. Felix Coetzee, Barend Vorster, Weichong Marwing, Kevin Shea and Greg Cheyne are other South African riders who’ve ridden ‘em to sleep overseas.

This remarkable record makes tomorrow’s International Jockeys Challenge at Turffontein a compelling contest. The challenge covers four races on the 10-race card, with points accumulating, and mounts allocated via a seeded draw to even things up.

The showdown between the six-man South African team and a star-studded European squad offers locally based jockeys a great chance to test their talents. And they have a good chance of repeating last year’s victory over the internationals.

Not a few racing pundits reckon that SA captain Anton Marcus is the best jockey in the world at the moment. That’s a big statement, but if you’ve seen the manner in which he has booted home winner after winner in recent months, you give it credence.

Piere “Striker” Strydom is one of the world’s great judges of pace in a horse race and would be a globe-trotting star if he didn’t like it so much at home.

Also in the South African ranks are the aforementioned Felix Coetzee, and fellow ex-SA champ Anthony Delpech, with tons of experience between them. Young thrusters Richard Fourie and Gavin Lerena make up the team.

Reigning SA champion jockey Andrew Fortune is injured, but has been made team manager.

The Bok jocks won’t want for a motivational team-talk: Fortune, a recovering druggie, gives inspirational chats at rehab clinics. And boy, can he talk. At the Equus awards this year, he had hard-bitten racing luminaries tearful at his acceptance speech.

The European team is Irishmen Mick Kinane, Richard Hughes and Jimmy Fortune, England’s Seb Sanders, Turkey’s Halis Karatas, and Italy’s Frankie Dettori.

A bonus tomorrow is a fifth challenge race that matches the Euros against an “emerging” local team - Muzi Yeni, Brandon Lerena, Aldo Domeyer, Raymond Danielson and S’Manga Khumalo.

An intriguing day’s racing if the weather plays ball.