Frankie Dettori looks ahead to riding Stradivarius in the Ascot Gold Cup
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It is Gold Cup day and for me the day with the most pressure as I ride Stradivarius who comes with big expectations of course.
He is the people’s champion. He wearshis heart on his sleeve. He is such a fighter and likes to be involved in thescrap. I think that is why people have gotten so attached to him.
You always know you are going to get arace from him but it isn’t going to be an easy task this year. There are somenew and fresh horses in the race but I have the utmost respect for my horse andhe is going to try his hardest to win.
It is very hard to win back-to-backAscot Gold Cups but he breaks all the rules. He is quite small for a stayer andhe’s got a turn of foot which is a great weapon to have when you’re a stayer.
To add to that, he has the will to win.It is very rare to see all of that in a horse. I am just looking forward to itnow, I’m not going to get stressed about it and fingers crossed he wins.
Sangarius is another I am lookingforward to tomorrow in the Hampton Court Stakes. I rode him in the week and heis in good form. He is a lovely, big horse but these big twenty-runnerhandicaps are all about the draw because the bend comes really quick.
He definitely has a good profile though. He was fourth in the Dewhurst and it was a good run first time out when he wasn’t 100%. He is a beautiful looking horse with a lot of potential.
Frankie
