Godolphin’s Benbatl has given trainer S bin Suroor another reason to smile. An amazing close finish for a well fought race. The Oisin Murphy ridden colt came in first ahead of everyone.
The racecard included top notch runners like Vivlos, Neorealism (Neo Universe), Deirdre, Real Steel (Deep Impact), Blair House (Pivotal), Championship, Promising Run, Janoobi. But Bembatl gave all of them a tough fight.
Murphy said: “My trip was very good. The horse was in brilliant condition. I work hard in the mornings and I dream about riding horses like this. To get the opportunity is fantastic. Saeed bin Suroor and his stable have done a good job with this horse. He only started his 3-year-old campaign this time last year and he’s come a long way in a short space of time. Last time I gave him a bad ride, so it was very good of Sheikh Mohammed and Saeed to keep me on him. Today he had a good trip and showed his class.”
Bin Suroor added, “I thought he was my best of a winner on the evening, and am glad to have been proved right by a very good horse. We saw last year that he is a good horse and I am so happy with him. He was weak as a 2-year-old so we looked after him and he won his maiden well first time up. He made a good start to his career that day and has kept on progressing. He has won his Group 3 and Group 2 and now he has won his Group 1, which is great to see. He will have a break now and then he will go for the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot.”
Defending Champion Vivlos could only manage to come behind Benbatl. The Y Tomomichi trained and Cristian Demuro ridden Vivlos came second. The jockey said, “The trainer asked me to keep her behind because she can pull too much. She relaxed behind and had a good turn of foot. I’m very happy she’s coming back to form.”
The third place was so close that we had to wait for a photo finish. Real Steal and Deirdre had to dead heat for third place. Jockey Barzalona said for Real Steel, “He ran well and we had he ran a very good race. I think he still has something in him and should improve next time out.”
Jockey Lemaire said for Deirdre, “I really thought we were going to win as we were going down the stretch since the pace fitted her well but the winner was just too strong."
By Apurva Chavan, Racing Writer, apurva.chavan@secretariatsworld.com