How Frankie Dettori won the Gold Cup - and where the race was won and lost

Frankie Dettori won a ninth Gold Cup with a textbook wait and pounce ride aboard the John and Thady Gosden-trained Courage Mon Ami, here we take a look at where the race was won and lost.

'It's unbelievable!' - Royal Ascot king Frankie Dettori wins on final Gold Cup ride aboard Courage Mon Ami  

The start

The race was made by Joe Fanning on Subjectivist, who went to the front from stall 11 to set a reasonable gallop. Frankie Dettori had just three of his 11 rivals behind him early on and was much further back than any of those who featured in the finish – with Coltrane (Oisin Murphy) in midfield and Subjectivist and Emily Dickinson (Ryan Moore) towards the fore.

One circuit to go

Subjectivist had the field stretched with a circuit to go. Lone Eagle was the only horse to go with him, while Emily Dickinson and Coltrane sat in a group of four some five lengths off the pace. Dettori, however, had slipped further back and had just two runners behind him passing the post for the first time.

Swinley Bottom

As the field galloped down the hill away from the stands and rounded Swinley Bottom not much changed in terms of race position, and yet because of that the complexion of the race changed completely. It started to become about one horse, Subjectivist, and whether he had been allowed too easy a time of it on the front as he maintained a three-length advantage over the field.

That concern meant Moore and Murphy began to move closer around the bend to mark the 2021 winner of the race.

Turning for home

Approaching the home turn, the field, which had been strung out for the first mile and a half, began to bunch. Moore eased onto the quarters of the front two in an attempt to keep Coltrane boxed in on his inside. Yet Frankie Dettori remained near-last, biding his time and waiting to see how things played out.

The bunching meant going around the outside on the home turn would force you very wide, as happened to Eldar Eldarov, but the bunching also meant a gap may not come on the inside – the exact fate Dettori suffered in the previous race aboard Bluestocking.

Straightening up

As they angled off the bend, Murphy got his gap and was able to get out on the favourite Coltrane. He came to win his race, but Dettori's gamble to stay on the inside paid off. He got a dream run around on the rail and only had to angle out slightly once they straightened up.

A wall of horses

With two furlongs to run, Dettori had a wall of four horses in front of him. Subjectivist was on the rail with Lone Eagle on his outside, Coltrane coming over the top of them and Emily Dickinson widest.

As Lone Eagle bowed out and Coltrane surged, Dettori was able to switch outside, follow Murphy through and then come over the top of him, not challenging until the final furlong and eventually winning by three-quarters of a length.

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