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Snow Sky flies to Hardwicke upset

Snow Sky froze out his more highly regarded rivals in the Hardwicke (Photo courtesy of GBI Racing via Twitter) Snow Sky (Nayef) provided a 12-1 upset under jockey Pat Smullen as he made all the running for a clear-cut victory in the Hardwicke S. (Eng-G2) at Royal Ascot on Saturday. Fellow Sir Michael Stoute-trained Telescope (Galileo), the 6-4 favorite, finished sixth of the seven runners. "That was a surprise, but a nice one," said Stoute, who captured the 1 1/2-mile contest for the ninth time. "After he won the Yorkshire Cup (Eng-G2) last month he looked like a Cup horse and we thought we might be going to Melbourne with him. Now we might have to have a rethink, but it's not a bad problem to have. "This is the best race he's run by some way and he surprised me by the turn of foot he showed off the bend, that was where he won his race and he was impressive," the horseman added. "We've never had him in front before but there was nothing obviously going to go on, and we couldn't let that happen, and we knew he stayed. He's really grown up, and is much more mature now, and is a clean-limbed, good-actioned horse, which is what you want." Smullen believes that Snow Sky could go on to bigger things after his runaway success in the Hardwicke. "Beforehand, Sir Michael (Stoute) wasn't planning to be in front but there was no obvious pace in the race," Smullen explained. "We were never going to beat them for a turn of foot -- he wants to go a bit further -- so I asked if I could maybe make the running and try and dictate it. It worked a treat. "He is a good horse. He quickened off the turn and put daylight between them very quickly. He is just a very good horse." Telescope was disappointing, but Stoute put his display down to the firm ground.

"He's run on it before, but maybe this time it just caught up with him," he said. "He's run two good races already this season and I'm sure he'll bounce back."

Snow Sky, owned and bred by Khalid Abdullah, was Stoute's first winner of a week. The trainer, however, is Royal Ascot's leading current trainer and Snow Sky brought his overall total to 73.

"We were due a change of luck," Stoute stated. "I'm just glad to get a single before the week is over."

Snow Sky may be back at Ascot for a step up to Group 1 level for the July 25 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S., for which he will have to be supplemented.

"I was chuffed to bits," said Teddy Grimthorpe, Khalid Abdullah's racing manager. "We were talking to Pat (Smullen) beforehand and I said 'Prince Khalid will never sack any jockey that makes all, I can tell you that' so we said jump and be happy.

"He got into a great rhythm, then began to stretch them a little bit and then, even better, he quickened off the turn and really won the race from there. We sort of had sort of slightly longer plans for him but I think the King George has to come into it now. The way he has won today and he has beaten these good horses. It was a pretty exceptional performance."

Eagle Top (Pivotal) finished second by 3 3/4 lengths to the four-year-old Hardwicke winner with Postponed (Dubawi) just missing the place spot by a nose. The duo's trainers had different reasons for voicing their concerns about the way the race was run.

John Gosden, the trainer of Eagle Top, who was ridden by Frankie Dettori, voiced barely-disguised criticism of another jockey, believed to be Postponed's rider, Adam Kirby, after the two horses had raced closely together throughout the race. Eagle Top was held in by Postponed in the home straight -- albeit perfectly legally -- before Dettori was able to pull his mount back and get a clear run that took him into second place.

"I've always felt that when a jockey is paid to ride a horse, they should ride their own horse. Unfortunately, a certain jockey spent the whole of the race riding our horse, which we hadn't employed him to do," a clearly unhappy Gosden said. "I have nothing else to say on the matter, but I hate to see unnecessarily messy races, with one jockey all over another horse. It's not clean racing and it's not intelligent.

"I'm delighted with the horse (Eagle Top) and I'm hoping to come back here for the King George."

Fellow Newmarket trainer Luca Cumani, who saddled Postponed, spoke to journalists before Gosden had made his comment.

"It was a strange race (due to the slow early pace) to put it mildly, and you would have thought a horse that wants a mile and six furlongs (Snow Sky) would have been most unsuited by it, but he turns out to be the most suited," Cumani said.

"In the circumstances, our horse ran well and I look forward to a rematch when there is a proper pace. They went slow and then sprinted, but he tried hard. The King George is likely (to be his next target)."

There was no stewards' enquiry after the Hardwicke.

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