Chic wins as Fallon guides

Kieren Fallon proved his all-round mastery in the saddle when he guided Chic to a perfectly judged victory over the hot favorite, Nayyir, in the Group 2, $180,000 Celebration Mile at Goodwood in England on Saturday.

Fallon has won the British jockeys' championship six times, and a superb recent run of form means he is set to win a seventh title this year. He has been openly critical, though, of his own riding around Goodwood's tricky, undulating, right-handed track.

In the Celebration Mile, Fallon got it exactly right, bringing Chic (4-1) from last to first in the final quarter-mile to beat Nayyir by 1 1/4 lengths, with Hurricane Alan fully five lengths back in third, a neck in front of Court Masterpiece in the field of seven.

Chic, a 4-year-old daughter of Machiavellian owned and bred by the Cheveley Park Stud and trained by Sir Michael Stoute, covered the mile on soft turf in 1:43.22.

After the race, Fallon said, "The leaders went very quick, and they were never going to keep it up on the ground. It was just a case of finding the gaps, and she's done really well to peg back Nayyir, who nearly stole it."

* In Saturday's Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor, Ancient World (5-1) defeated the 9-5 favorite, Gateman, by 1 1/4 lengths, with Fruhlingsturm five lengths back in third. The final time for the 1 1/4 mile, seven-yard race was 2:08.97.