DERMOT WELD trained some legendary names who couldn’t win him an Ascot Gold Cup, but Rite Of Passage lived up to his illustrious ancestry to land an epic renewal of the stayers crown yesterday.
Just a neck separated Weld’s 20 to1 winner from Aidan O’Brien’s Age Of Aquarius at the end of a gruelling struggle that saw Rite Of Passage break the course record by almost a second-and-a-half.
It was a remarkable success for a horse whose first two races were in bumpers and who had been beaten over hurdles at Cheltenham in March.
However, reverting to the flat – he is now unbeaten in three starts on the level – paid off in style as Rite Of Passage succeeded where Vintage Crop (runner-up to Arcadian Heights in 1994) and Vinnie Roe (runner-up to Royal Rebel in 2002) couldn’t.
“It was a tremendous race, a great spectacle, and it’s great to come out on top,” said jockey Pat Smullen, who was handed a four-day suspension for an incident with Akmal.
Weld added: “It’s a race I’ve always wanted to win. I’ve also got Profound Beauty, who is favourite for the Melbourne Cup, but that has also been a target of mine for this horse too.”
The Curragh trainer’s previously bittersweet Gold Cup experience included Media Puzzle incurring fatal injuries in the closing stages of the 2006 race, but Rite Of Passage is an 8 to 1 shot to follow his footsteps Down Under in November.
The big chestnut has already lived up to his pedigree though, as the new Gold Cup hero is a great-grandson of Dahlia, who won the King George in 1973 and 1974.
Age Of Aquarius’s part-owner Derrick Smith reported: “I thought he was going to get swamped a furlong out but he kept going and stayed every yard.”
Johnny Murtagh got a three-day ban for his use of the whip on Age Of Aquarius.
Godolphin secured their second prize of the week when Hibaayeb was a convincing winner of the Ribblesdale Stakes, while Irish-born jockey Eddie Ahern landed the Norfolk Stakes on the 16 to 1 shot Approve, who pounced late on Ryan Moore’s mount Reckless Reward.
Kieren Fallon won his first Royal Ascot for four years as Afsare nosed out Queen Elizabeth’s Quadrille in the Hampton Court Stakes. Trainer Luca Cumani was bridging an even longer gap back to 1997.
