Fascinating Rocks Ascot to land Champion Stakes

Pat Smullen and Fascinating Rock won the Champion Stakes. Image courtesy of Racingfotos.com

Jack Hobbs was unable to cap John Gosden’s marvellous season by justifying favouritism in the Champion Stakes, losing out to the Dermot Weld-trained Fascinating Rock.

Ridden to prominence from his wide draw, Jack Hobbs sat second to his pacemaker Maverick Wave early on, with Vadamos and The Corsican sitting behind him. As they turned into the straight, Jack Hobbs took over, but he never looked like putting the race to bed as he had in the Irish Derby, and when Fascinating Rock went past inside the final furlong the game was up. Found, who has been anchored in last early on, weaved through to take second, though there was little reason to regard her as an unlucky loser.

The win was a first in the Champion Stakes for Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen, who also combined to land the other great 10-furlong race here in June, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

Weld, widely regarded as one of the best ‘target trainers’ around, said afterwards: “This has been the plan for around six months. This was always the race I thought would suit him best. I thought usually the ground is on the slow side- he loves it soft- he’s a very good horse in the autumn.”

“He has [had an up-and-down year]. He was very good at Leopardstown when he won by six lengths,  and I think he’ll make a lovely five-year-old.”

Smullen agreed with the sentiment when interviewed immediately after the race, saying “This horse has been underestimated. The ground conditions were right for him, the trip was right for him.”

We could be seeing a rematch with Jack Hobbs at some point in 2016. Asked about the future of his charge afterwards, John Gosden said “He’s still like a 15-year-old. He’ll race on at four, and might start him off in something like the Brigadier Gerard, which is often a good race to start with horses that have won Group 1s.”