QIPCO British Champions

Long Distance Cup (Group 2)

THE Long Distance Cup is the poor relation on Champions Day in that it currently holds just Group 2 status, but that won’t be long in being rectified. It threw up what was undoubtedly the best race for spectators on the day, as the big staying races so often do.

There were no surprises in the scripting of the contest, but the final twist was delivered with perfect timing, and the battle between eventual winner Kew Gardens (Aidan/Donnacha O’Brien) and Stradivarius (John Gosden/Frankie Dettori) will live long in the memory, with the well-backed 7/2 second favourite beating the odds-on champion by a nose, with the pair five lengths ahead of Royal Line (John Gosden/Rab Havlin) in third.

Donnacha O’Brien rode a copybook race on the winner, ensuring that not only did he get first run on Stradivarius, but that he was also able to keep something in reserve knowing the Gold Cup winner tends to do little when hitting the front.

The plan worked perfectly, with Kew Gardens first to make a decisive move as he took over from the front-running pair Withhold and Capri before the two-furlong pole, and he briefly looked to have the favourite in trouble; Stradivarius struggled initially to bridge the gap, but soon found top stride and joined Kew Gardens, nosing in front with a furlong to run. But he didn’t go clear and Kew Gardens dug in, the pair going stride for stride to the post, and it was the St Leger winner who edged in front near the line.

Even then it wasn’t over and a final lunge by Stradivarius showed that he had narrowed the gap to an almost imperceptible margin, but the verdict was a first defeat since he was third to Order Of St George and Torcedor here in 2017.

In truth, while his winning run had ended, he came out of this epic encounter with as much credit as any of his narrow wins this season, and in Kew Gardens he has uncovered a stayer in similar mould, a tough, doughty battler who also had the ability to quicken at the end of such races.

The prospect of these two battling it out in the Gold Cup next season really makes the mouth water, and brings back memories of the battles between Le Moss and Ardross four decades ago.

Kew Gardens has been unlucky this year, a defeat in desperate ground in the Ormonde Stakes forgivable, and Ryan Moore must have thought that he had the race won in the Coronation Cup at Epsom only for Defoe to find an unlikely run on the inside. He finished best of all in the Irish St Leger in a race gifted to the winner, and was getting ample compensation here.

Aidan O’Brien was delighted, but also rued what might have been: “We were training Kew Gardens for the Gold Cup, but he got an injury and it all went pear-shaped. We are just delighted to get him back really. He barely made it back in time to run in the Irish Leger where he finished second and it just didn’t go right for him on the day.

“He is an incredible horse and it was a great performance. The lads will decide if he stays in training, but I think there is a strong chance that he will.”

John Gosden revealed how close he had come to withdrawing Stradivarius, and set his stall out for 2020, saying: “We came fairly close to pulling out, but it’s Champions Day and you let the day down if you don’t run Stradivarius. He was only beaten a nose, so no disgrace in that, and it’s just not his ground.

“We’ll be back for the Gold Cup on good-to-firm, where we’ll be in good shape.”