Cracksman dominates Champion Stakes at Ascot

Cracksman started his 2018 campaign with a bang in April, hit a soft spot over the summer and into early autumn, but went off to stud Saturday at Ascot with another dominant performance in the Group 1 Champion Stakes.

Cracksman, racing over the soft ground he desires, burst to the lead with more than a quarter-mile to run and stretched out to a six-length win over Crystal Ocean. It probably was Cracksman’s best showing since he won the 2017 Champion by seven lengths.

Cracksman was the third big-race winner on the British Champions Day card for trainer John Gosden, who sent Stradivarius out to win the Group 2 Long Distance Cup and saddled Roaring Lion to victory in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes one race before the Champion.

Where Roaring Lion overcame soft going to post a narrow score while running below his best, Cracksman finally got back to his best after struggling with studdishness and overly firm conditions this summer after launching his season with a 4-length win in the Prix Ganay at Long-champ.

“He won the Ganay in exhilarating style, but he never was quite the same after that,” Gosden said.

Gosden fitted Cracksman with a set of French cup blinkers for his final serious work for the Champion, and Cracksman raced in the hood for the first time Saturday.

“He’s been showing me that at home, and he did what I thought he’d do,” Gosden said.

Crystal Ocean raced on the bridle along the fence and got through along the inside, but by the time he was clear pace-stalking Cracksman was long gone. Putting the Champion to bed with just less than a quarter-mile left, Cracksman was a solo act through the final furlong, giving Dettori a chance, as he so loves, to play to the crowd.

The Czech Republic-based horse Subway Dancer turned in an impressive effort to finish third, just three-quarters of a length behind Crystal Ocean, who could run back in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

This was the swan song, however, for Cracksman, who is by Frankel and out of the Pivotal mare Rhadegunda. Owned by Anthony Oppenheimer, Cracksman is retired with a record of 8-2-1 from 11 starts and, as a son of the great Frankel, will make as big a splash at stud as he did Saturday at Ascot.