Frankie fantastic as Frankel’s Courage Mon Ami claims Gold Cup
Frankie Dettori will bow out of his final Royal Ascot having added another Gold Cup (Gr 1, 2m 4f) crown to his glittering career after producing a rallying ride aboard Courage Mon Ami (Frankel) to win yesterday’s showpiece.
Dettori, who will retire from riding at the end of this year, claimed his ninth win in the time-honoured Group 1 to sit behind only the legendary Lester Piggott on 11 as the winning-most jockey in the race.
Dettori showed all of his extensive experience of the Ascot track to produce a memorable winning ride aboard the John and Thady Gosden-trained Courage Mon Ami, corning tight against the rail at the rear of the field, before producing the son of Frankel (Galileo) off heels of the leaders to challenge Coltrane (Mastercraftsman) entering the final furlong. The four-year-old showed tenacity to overhaul his game rival and win by three-quarters of a length. Subjectivist finished four and a half lengths from the winner in third.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Dettori. “I thought it was a bridge too far from handicaps to a Group 1 but it was the perfect race. This is what it’s all about.
“I thought he [Coltrane] was going to come back and in fairness my horse is still a baby but when the other horse did come back he picked up again.”
Courage Mon Ami, who stepped up markedly in grade to stretch his unbeaten record to four, became the 31st individual Group 1 winner and 122nd individual stakes winner for the imperious Juddmonte stallion Frankel, who has sired the winner of three of the five Group 1 contests so far this week at Royal Ascot and is the leading sire at the prestigious meeting.
The stallion is the sire of shock Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) scorer Mostahdaf, as well as Tuesday’s winner of the Queen Anne Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) Triple Time.
A wide-margin winner of two novice contests as a three-year-old, Courage Mon Ami won a Class 2 Handicap over a mile and six furlongs in May and the gelding improved again for stepping up in distance to the marathon two and a half miles.
John Gosden, who partnered with Dettori to win three Ascot Gold Cups with Stradivarius (Sea The Stars) between 2018 and 2020, earned his first success in the race in partnership with his son, Thady, as the pair landed their third victory and second Group 1 success of the week at Royal Ascot.
“We didn’t know if he’d stay – you can’t practice two and a half miles at home – but Frankie stayed cool, kept him in the dark down on the inside and saved every inch. I saw he went to go outside in the straight and they all said no, go back in, but luckily he managed to wriggle through,” Gosden said.
“I saw he went to go outside turning into the straight and they said no, go back in, and luckily he managed to wriggle through and found a great run. He’s a lovely horse who was bred by Mr [Anthony] Oppenheimer who sold him. It costs a great deal of money for English breeders to keep their studs going. He’s a gelding by Frankel, he’s unbeaten, but he’s gone from the all-weather, to Goodwood, to here, so full achievement to the horse.
“It’s a great ride for Frankie and it crowns his week.”
Courage Mon Ami (4 g Frankel – Crimson Ribbon by Lemon Drop Kid) becomes the third stakes winner out of the winning US-bred mare Crimson Ribbon, herself a sister to Group winners Bronze Cannon and Valiant Girl, as well as a half-sister to Group 2 scorer Across The Stars (Sea The Stars).