Ascot Gold Cup Grit

Torcedor (6 g Fastnet Rock - Magnolia Lane, by Sadler's Wells) ran a great race for third overnight in a field of nine for the £500,000 Ascot Gold Cup (Gr. 1, 4023m) at Royal Ascot.

Gallant when fifth in the Gold Cup last year, Torcedor (14/1) secured a nice position in second for regular pilot Colm O'Donoghue, took a lead to the 400m, was inside a line of four at the 200m and coming again at the line. The margins were three-quarters of a length, by a head, and three lengths to fourth.

“He drew the outside and I thought it was a terrific run,” said Te Akau principal David Ellis, who bought the horse. “It was a fantastic effort and I was really proud of him.

“The Gold Cup is an incredibly prestigious race, one of the best staying tests in the world, and ultimately the Queen presents the cup to the owners, so it's an amazing event.”

The race was won by Stradivarius (Sea the Stars), ridden by Frankie Dettori and trained by John Gosden. Stradivarius was the 7/4 joint favourite with fourth placed Order of St George (Galileo).

Commentators suggested it was a career best performance by Torcedor and that trainer Jessica Harrington had found some improvement in him given the manner of his last start win in the Longines Sagaro Stakes (Gr. 3, 3200m) on 5 May at Royal Ascot.

Lot 1, Ellis paid 70,000 Euro (NZ$115,000) for Torcedor at the 2013 Deauville Yearling Sales in France. He is owned by Sir Patrick Hogan, Sir Peter Vela, Mohammed Moussa and Laurie Laxon, and trained by Harrington in County Kildare, Ireland. He has won five of his 18 starts, five seconds, two thirds, and earned NZ$791,501 in prize money.

Torcedor has flourished with maturity and a change in training environment; his Timeform rating increasing from 96 to 115 in eight starts for Harrington.

Interestingly, his dam Magnolia Lane (Sadler's Wells) is a sister to British superstar Yeats (Sadler's Wells) who won the Ascot Gold Cup on four consecutive occasions (2006 - 09), a race considered the European equivalent of the Melbourne Cup (Gr. 1, 3200m).

“He's out of a very good staying family, on the female side, and Fastnet Rock is not renowned for two-mile winners and certainly not two and half miles, but he's a pretty classy horse that seems to find another leg with a little bit of rain around and like last year he struck a firm track again,” said Ellis, who with his wife, Karyn Fenton-Ellis (MNZM), was on course to witness Yeats win his fourth Gold Cup. “That was probably the most amazing race I've ever seen,” he added.

“I was with Joe Walls when we first saw Torcedor at the Deauville sale and he was just an average sized, nicely compact, athletic horse, and we were staggered to buy him for such a good price. It's really rewarding to see him go from that day and carry on to achieve what he has. He's won Group races in Ireland and England, and it's been a great journey for the owners that invested with me. They've got a really good return from the horse, alongside a lot of excitement.”

Ellis said there were no immediate plans for Torcedor. “We'll see how he comes through the race. He'll have a bit of a breather, back in Ireland. He's a horse that's improving all the time, a pretty exciting staying prospect and he could win the Gold Cup next year?”

(Apologies for the photo quality - taken off the TV at 3.25am!!)

Getting into the winter months in New Zealand, Ellis also said that Te Akau Stud is looking fantastic. “It's been a really good autumn/early winter and we're only nine weeks away from the start of spring,” he said.