Rivet all the way in Racing Post Trophy Stakes
Rivet led from start to finish in winning the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths over the favored Yucatan on Saturday at Doncaster Racecourse in England.
Andrea Atzeni rode the winner, his fourth straight in the Racing Post Trophy, a one-mile, straight-course race for 2-year-olds and the last Group 1 of the flat season in England. William Haggas trains the winner, while trainer Aidan O’Brien, chasing Bobby Frankel’s world-record 25 Grade 1 or Group 1 wins in a season, had to settle for second with Yucatan.
In fact, it was a bit surprising that Yucatan earned a placing that high since he came under strong pressure from jockey Ryan Moore a full three furlongs from the finish. Yucatan ground his way into second, but it was Rivet always doing the better work, and the pacesetter cruised away from Yucatan in the final furlong after Yucatan briefly pushed into contention.
Salouen, second last out in the Jean-Luc Lagardere, finished third, three-quarters of a length behind Yucatan and three-quarters in front of Raheen House.
Rivet, a son of Fastnet Rock, won for the third time in five starts and appears to have a special affinity for Doncaster, where he won the Group 2 Champagne on Sept. 10. Rivet raced two weeks ago in the Grade 1 Dewhurst at Newmarket and there proved no match for the O’Brien-trained winner, Churchill, while checking in fifth of seven.