Kentucky-bred Scandinavia provided trainer Aidan O’Brien with his 100th winner at Royal Ascot by edging out defending winner Trawlerman in the final strides of a scintillating Gold Cup Stakes (G1) June 18 at Ascot Racecourse.
The victory marks the first time in 33 years that a horse bred in the United States has captured the Gold Cup. Before Scandinavia, the most recent horse bred in the U.S. to win the Gold Cup was Kentucky-bred Drum Taps, bred by William Powell and Bates Newton, who won the 2 1/2-mile test a second straight year in 1993.
Campaigned by the Coolmore-affiliated Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Susan Magnier, Scandinavia, a 4-year-old colt out of the Galileo mare Fabulous, was bred by Orpendale/Chelston/Wynatt.
O’Brien said it was “an honor and a privilege to be involved in the team and be a small part with everybody,” reeling off the names of 23 people from his wife Annemarie O’Brien, through staff at Ballydoyle, and the horse’s owners when congratulated for his achievement on ITV.
The King congratulates Aidan O’Brien after Scandinavia gave the trainer his 100th Royal Ascot winner when landing the Gold Cup
“It’s very special for me, Annemarie, and everybody at Ballydoyle,” O’Brien said. “It’s a big team thing as you know and Ryan (Moore) gave him a peach of a ride. (Reaching 100 winners is) something we never think about. It’s literally one race at a time, it’s so hard to win races here.”
O’Brien also paid tribute to Godolphin homebred Trawlerman, who battled to the wire before yielding by a head in the 2 1/2-mile race completed in 4:18.53 by the winner on good-to-firm turf.
“The second horse is a great horse, very brave. We felt our horse was very brave, relentless and cruises,” O’Brien said. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be involved in the team and he’s a small part with everybody. I can’t tell you how grateful we are to everybody. What can I say? It was an incredible feeling.”
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For much of the straight, Trawlerman looked like he was going to win a second straight Gold Cup. Skillfully ridden from the front by William Buick, the 8-year-old broke away from the field on the home turn and gave his all. Scandinavia came with a challenge, but it did not look like enough as the horses went inside the furlong pole. Yet, with the line looming, the gallant Trawlerman could not dig any deeper and Scandinavia overhauled him with just yards to spare.
Winning jockey Ryan Moore said the tactics of the race had made the win more difficult for Scandinavia to achieve, with last year’s St. Leger Stakes (G1) winner losing his prominent pitch early on when shuffled out of the way by Caballo de Mar.
“He should’ve won easier,” Moore said. “I was happy where I was then Oisin (Murphy) came around me and I didn’t want us going three in a line and he took me out of the race.
“I had to work to get to Trawlerman and I thought I had him, and then I had to go again. Trawlerman’s a brave horse and kept coming.
“Aidan identifies these horses every year and brings them here jumping out of their skin. He just keeps finding a way to win and I had every confidence he would do somehow.”
Asked about O’Brien’s achievement in reaching 100 winners, Moore added: “The reality with Aidan is he won’t care. He’ll be thinking about the next hundred and that’s what separates him.”
John Gosden, joint-trainer of runner-up Trawlerman and third home Sweet William, also praised the efforts of his staff in getting his horses to the race in peak condition. In the case of Trawlerman, it came following a challenging spring when the horse had been ill and in recent weeks when an eye condition meant he had become sensitive to light and needed to train day to day in darkened goggles.
“He’s an 8-year-old taking on the brilliant, talented new boy on the beat,” Gosden said. “That he’s done this considering how ill he was he’s run an unbelievable race. I want to check he’s alright and we’ll get his goggles back on as the sun’s coming out!
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“It was a phenomenal finish between two magnificent stayers. In the last 20 yards he’d just given his all. You can have nothing but enormous pride. It’s great work by the team, from the vets to get him back to us and the team at Clarehaven to produce him for a day like this.
“Sweet William has always been his own boss. He’s wonderfully consistent.”
The landmark victory for Justify followed the sire seeing two of his Kentucky-bred sons, Nola Soul and On Just Terms respectively finish first and second in the Chesham Stakes to open the day’s card at the Royal Ascot meeting. The 2018 Triple Crown winner stands for $200,000 at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky.
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Scandinavia’s dam, the unraced Fabulous, is a half sister to Coolmore’s late champion sire Giant’s Causeway, and also has produced group 1 winner Above the Curve, who is a daughter of Ashford’s other Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah.