Dettori wins fifth Gold Cup at Ascot in Godolphin 1-2

Royal Ascot’s most successful jockey Frankie Dettori won a thrilling Gold Cup on Colour Vision in Thursday’s feature race.

The 42-year-old sealed his first victory of this year’s meeting by leading home a Godolphin one-two, with stablemate Opinion Poll second under Mikael Barzalona.

Dettori had decided to switch rides from Opinion Poll, a decision that paid off when his Saeed Bin Suroor-trained gray won by half a length to earn the Italian’s fifth victory in the prestigious race and his first since 2004.

He is still some way behind the leading 11 victories by the legendary Lester Piggott, but nevertheless has more wins at Royal Ascot than any other jockey.

Bin Suroor became only the eighth trainer to claim five Gold Cup victories and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin matched Sue Magnier’s benchmark five for owners.

Magnier’s part-owned Fame And Glory, the pre-race favorite and the winner last year, finished down the field under Jamie Spencer.

Meanwhile, there was more disappointment for England’s Queen Elizabeth as her filly Momentary was well beaten in the Ribbesdale Stakes, finishing well back in the field.

The race was won in convincing style by Princess Highway, who powered home to win by five lengths.

The Queen, wearing mint green on the third day of Royal Ascot – Ladies’ Day – had earlier taken her customary trip to the parade ring to inspect her filly ahead of the race and exchange a few words with her jockey, Hayley Turner.

But Momentary never presented a serious threat and finished third-last in the field of 14 starters. It follows a gallant second place by the Queen’s horse Carlton House on Wednesday.

The Andrew Lloyd Weber-owned The Fugue – who was an unlucky third behind Was and Shirocco Star in the Oaks – finished second, with Shirocco Star this time coming third.

The Ribbesdale Stakes for three-year-old fillies featured many of the same fillies who contested the Oaks at Epsom earlier this month.