You could just see it and we knew what we had.” “We then took her up to Keeneland where she breezed really good, then the next time it was like boom – a lightning bolt. She was with another filly and I don’t think she really knew what was going on, but I stayed patient and the following week we went again and she was equal with that same filly. “She got outworked the first time we tried her on turf. “We started her training down in Florida where we did the normal routine with her,” says Ward. While imperious on only her second start, reaching that point had not been a walk in the park. Lady Aurelia quickened again to score by seven lengths – a performance worthy of any superlative. With the race already in the bag, Dettori asked for a change of gear inside the final two furlongs and the response was immediate.
Everyone wanted to back Lady Aurelia, who was representing a trainer with a penchant for sending out two-year-old winners at the meeting, so much so that she was sent off the 2-1 favourite.īursting from the gate, Dettori eased her to the front, from where she completely dominated her rivals. The vibes were strong for the Queen Mary on a wet day at Royal Ascot in June 2016. Mesmerising performances always help build up a following for a horse, and the daughter of the great Scat Daddy delivered in style on her first trip to Britain. While this was not Lady Aurelia’s day, there were plenty of others. I was standing there with the cameras on me thinking I’m not quite sure Frankie got that right. “My first thought was that we’d got beat, but when I saw Frankie I got hopeful. Everything happened how we wanted apart from the last nostril of the race.
“I went into the race confident, feeling that everything was good with her and we had the right rider who was the hottest on the planet at the time. “I can still remember Frankie at the wire getting up and shaking his fist thinking he’d won it,” the trainer recalls. Dettori may have seemed confident, but trainer Wesley Ward was less so, in what is undoubtedly one of the quickest shifts of emotions he may ever experience. It was close, almost too close, but the result soon came over the Tannoy and it was in fact Marsha’s nose in front on the line. On the big screen the photo-finish was shown, a gasp came from the crowd. Well that’s what Dettori thought had happened as he jumped up in his irons and roared to the crowd in celebration. The 2017 Nunthorpe Stakes was billed to be a classic with Marsha and Battaash in the line-up, yet it was the presence of US ace Lady Aurelia which really catapulted the race into a different stratosphere.įast, electric and relentless from the front she blasted away on the Knavesmire, grinding it out to repel Marsha in the tightest of calls. This week's subject: Lady Aureliaįor all of the many signature moments in the distinguished career of Frankie Dettori, it was this week just five years ago where one of his most unfortunate moments occurred. Fans' Favourites is a weekly feature in the Racing Post Weekender in which we talk to those closest to racing's most popular horses and find out why they tug on our heartstrings.
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