PURPLE PATCH: With the curtain falling on the flat season, we decided to look at Frankie Dettori and John Gosden’s very successful partnership ahead of British Champions Day.
Why the dynamic duo of Dettori and Gosden love Ascot’s Flat season finale
As the 2020 British Flat season comes to a close with Ascot hosting the star-studded British Champions Day on Saturday, a certain duo will be licking their lips at returning to the Berkshire track.
In recent years, Frankie Dettori and John Gosden have dominated the UK’s most valuable six-race card and the partnership are the talking point of this week’s Purple Patch.
The big meeting at Ascot was formed in 2011, but it’s in the past five seasons that Dettori and Gosden have really profited.
In the 30 Champions Day races since 2015, they have won 7 of them – a strike rate of close to 25 per cent.
Five of those seven victories have been in Group 1s, with Journey’s victory in the 2016 Fillies & Mares Stakes the first of them. That win followed Flying Officer’s win in the Group 2 Long Distance Cup the previous campaign.
They enjoyed double Group 1 success a year later as Persuasive won the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on her final career appearance, before Cracksman was an impressive seven-length winner of the Champion Stakes.
The duo were at it again in 2018 when Stradivarius won the Group 2 Long Distance Cup and they then tasted more Group 1 glory as Cracksman romped home again for a second successive Champion Stakes.
Their fifth Group 1 in five years came last season when Star Catcher just held on to win the Fillies & Mares Stakes and her win meant the pair have won over £3m in prize money during that period.
Dettori and Gosden will be confident of continuing their Purple Patch as they look to hold a strong hand this year with Palace Pier odds-on for the QEII, Stradivarius is a solid market leader on the betting exchange as he targets a second victory in the Long Distance Cup, and Mishriff holds strong claims in the Champion Stakes.
