Either Cape Blanco's owners are on real good terms with Gio Ponti's owners or they have no class.
The Hays' racing manager Alex Cole was delighted to have beaten Gio Ponti for a third time, Cape Blanco also having finished in front of him in Dubai. "He's met him three times and three times he's seen his arse," he said.
Cape Blanco: completed fantastic Grade 1 double for Ballydoyle in Chicago
PICTURE: EquiSports Photos/Jessie Holmes
Cape Blanco awesome in Arlington Million
By Nicholas Godfrey in Chicago 11:26PM 13 AUG 2011
CAPE BLANCO (Aidan O'Brien/Jamie Spencer) completed a brilliant Grade
1 double for Ballydoyle in Chicago on Saturday with a ruthlessly
dominant victory in the 29th running of the Arlington Million.
The son of Galileo easily confirmed recent form with dual US turf
champ Gio Ponti, whom he had beaten last month in the Man o'War Stakes,
with a two-and-half-length triumph over his old rival in the pink and
green colours of part-owners Jim and Fitri Hay.
The Hays' racing manager Alex Cole was delighted to have beaten Gio
Ponti for a third time, Cape Blanco also having finished in front of him
in Dubai. "He's met him three times and three times he's seen his
arse," he said.
Sent off a 2.1-1 shot, Cape Blanco was completing a double for Aidan
O'Brien after Treasure Beach, his successor as Irish Derby winner,
landed the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes earlier on the card under Colm
O'Donoghue.
US-trained Dean's Kitten got up for third a neck in front of Hayley
Turner's mount Wigmore Hall, who enjoyed a ground-saving trip but could
not accelerate in the closing stages.
With Grade 1 winner Mission Approved making the running, Cape Blanco
raced just off the pace in fourth place, with Wigmore Hall on his inner.
An ultra-confident Spencer asked him to enter the fray on the far
turn and then asked him to claim the race at least two furlongs out.
While this was an early move, it was also the right move and Cape
Blanco's opponents were all in trouble as the four-year-old powered home
for an impressive victory in one of North America's most celebrated
races.
"He's a good tough horse and he's brilliantly trained," said Spencer. "All I did was do the steering.
Cape Blanco stopped the clock in 2m05.39s on yielding turf to become
his trainer's second winner of Arlington's fabled Million after
Powerscourt in 2005. The winner is being seriously considered for
Australasia's number one weight-for-age race, the Cox Plate.
For Spencer, Saturday's victory must have tasted all the sweeter as
he had partnered Powerscourt to finish first past the post in Chicago in
2004, only to be disqualified for interference.
"Aidan gave me my instructions and I rode accordingly," added the
rider. "I'm very pleased just to be able to ride the horse. There are
very few horses that have the will to win like this - the more you ask
from him, the more you get from him. He had loads left in the end."
Hayley Turner enjoyed her first experience of US Grade 1 racing. "He
ran well for me," she said. "Turning in we went hunting Cape Blanco and
when we got some daylight he started running but Cape Blanco went on
too, unfortunately."
Gio Ponti's jockey Ramon Dominguez, who won the Beverly D on Stacelita earlier on the card, paid tribute to the winner.
"He had first run on us but you have to give him credit - we were second-best today," he said.
"If you put Gio Ponti in striking range too soon, he is going to go
too early and it takes him too much out of his game. He isn't three
anymore but he runs so good every time he's out there. We are all so
used to his consistency."
