3 minute read
Ryan Moore's masterclass gets Luxembourg back to winning ways.
The Aidan O'Brien-trained Luxembourg may have struggled at Riyadh and Meydan on his last two outings but quickly showed his true colours when returned closer to home soil at Epsom on Friday afternoon.
Stepping back up to a mile and a half for the first time since finishing fourth in the King George last season posed a question mark for Luxembourg, but Ryan Moore ensured stamina was no problem by dictating matters out in front from an early stage.
The five-year-old multiple Group 1 winner was always well-placed under Moore throughout the Group 1 prize and the pair made sure the Commonwealth Cup spoils were there when kicking clear with three furlongs to travel.
William Haggas' evergreen eight-year-old Hamish set off in hot pursuit up the Epsom straight, but he never really looked like reeling in the runaway leader, who went on to score by a comfortable length at odds of 9/4.
Aidan O'Brien said: "It's a difficult race to win and we are delighted for him. We ran him a little bit short over the winter and a mile and a half is probably the trip he loves, although he has very good form at a mile and a quarter. The better the ground the better he'll be, and we think he'll hopefully be a King George horse.
"Ryan gave him a brilliant ride. He had him in a lovely and relaxed rhythm early on, and when he started to quicken his fractions were brilliant. A horse like that in front, the way Ryan was riding him, was always going to be difficult to deal with if you were following him.
"Tactically, he's brilliant. He's riding in big races all of the time and he has so much experience he knows 99 percent of the other horses. He's always a massive advantage to us."
The winning jockey Ryan Moore added: "He's been a great horse. He's been a very persistent horse his whole life, really - he's a Group One winner at two, three, four and five. Not many horses can do that. He's a straightforward, honest horse. This is the first time he's won at a mile and a half, and we always felt that was in him, so I'm glad he's done it today. They've done a good job to bring him back for today."
Paddy Power were seemingly impressed and cut the winner to 4/1 (from 10s) for the Coral Eclipse at Sandown, while the same firm made him a 10/1 shot (from 20s) for the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot.