Royal Ascot has a different flavour this year
Conditioner, Wesley Ward has been bringing his Florida spice to the track for several seasons now, but this time round, his horse Campanelle (Frankie Dettori 5-1), was subjected to some Stewards intervention before they ruled him as a winner.
Campanelle was accompanied to the Commonwealth Cup post by Wesley's previous speedy star, Tiger Strike, just as a ceremonious gesture.
What actually transpired after the off was that Dragon Symbol (Oisin Murphy 4-1), led prominently for most of the six furlongs with Campanelle. However, when Oisin shook Dragon Symbol up, the colt began drifting and hanging into Campanelle, physically bumping her.
As only a head separated these two, Stewards were obligated to reverse placings. Frankie was understandably pleased at that judgement and said: "It's never nice winning in the stewards' room but Oisin's horse drifted about eight lanes and brushed me thrice." Wesley added: "Winning at Ascot, no matter how you get there, is special. This place has changed my life."
Adding insult to injury, Oisin was also handed down a four-day ban for allowing the hanging to continue, but it is the most difficult of tasks trying to straighten a horse in that situation. Clocking 1:16:6/10 is slow, albeit on heavy ground, in a field of fifteen.
Fivethousandandtoone (Silvestre De Souza 14-1), never got moving, ending up last. Measure of Magic (Ben Coen 11-1), and Dandalla (Ben Curtis 33-1), were placers, but no match to talk about.
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Osin compensated on Alcohol Free 11-2, for Andrew Balding in the Coronation Stakes Mile. Rudyard Kipling famously said to treat triumph and disaster as the same, which Oisin cottoned on to. Snow Lantern (Sean Levy 14-1), Mother Earth (Ryan Moore 14-1), and Novemba (David Egan 15-2), were not far off the mark.
Alcohol Free clocked 1:43:1/10, after ducking left at the start. Not much fun for a jockey when that happens. It can turn into a fall.