Teofilo’s Scope stays trip the best
WHILE Angel Bleu may have surprised Beckett, the opposite is true of the Group 1 Royal-Oak hero, the Teofilo colt, Scope, since he knows the family backwards having trained both his dam, Look So, and her half-sister, Look Here, his inaugural big-race winner when successful in the 2008 Oaks at Epsom.
“At the start of the season I did say that I saw him as more of a Leger than Derby horse,” Beckett admitted afterwards, “I just didn’t realise that would mean the French St Leger!”
Decent pace
The biggest winner of 26-year-old jockey Rob Hornby’s career, Scope was never far away from a decent pace set by Alkuin in this one-mile, seven-furlong €350,000 event.
The Irish outsider Zero Ten ran a bold race to justify trainer Emmet Mullins’s ambitious decision to come here with a gelding rated just 94 and was the first to kick for home with two and a half furlongs to run.
Hornby waited until Skazino had swept past them both before engaging full pressure on his mount, and Scope responded willingly, moving into the lead with a furlong to run and extending his advantage to a length as they crossed the line.
Irish hope
Glycon took third and the better-fancied Irish hope, Search For A Song, did not get going until it was too late, moving past Zero Ten in the dying strides to grab fourth. Her trainer, Dermot Weld, pointed to the officially ‘very soft’ ground to explain her defeat.
Hornby said: “I’m ecstatic. It’s my first ever ride at Longchamp and it’s been a special day.”
“This horse is thriving and when I walked the course this morning I thought that conditions would be perfect for him.
“He can be slowly away so it was just a matter of being able to keep tabs on the leaders as stamina is the key to him.”
Beckett added: “The race worked out perfectly. He’s not a great work horse but the whole family is the same and I’ve been so lucky to train them all.
“I’m delighted for Julian (Richmond-Watson), his owner-breeder, as he only has five mares.”
JAMES Ferguson, who trains in Newmarket, is the son of the former trainer and Godolphin chief executive, John, and a one-time assistant to both Charlie Appleby and, most recently, Jessica Harrington.
Presumably because he had been expecting a waiting ride from Ioritz Mendizabal, he looked a little shell-shocked after his Irish-bred two-year-old Kodiac colt, El Bodegon, had made all the running before quickening clear halfway up the home straight to score by a length and a half in the 10-furlong Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.
Aidan O’Brien’s Stone Age took second with the other Irish challenger, Unconquerable, finishing a never nearer fifth, just over three lengths behind the winner.
Relaxed
Ferguson said: “I couldn’t work out what was going on at the furlong pole, I hadn’t expected him to be in front at that point. He was given a great ride, he relaxed so well in front, and it’s exciting to think what kind of horse we might have for next year.”
A chunk of the credit is down to Mendizabal, who said: “The plan was to take a lead but when it was clear no one else wanted to go on I took the responsibility on my own shoulders.
“I love horses like him that are just so relaxed.”