Yesterday, I had the pleasant enjoyment of watching a fantastic horse by the name of Gale Force 10 win at Royal Ascot. Even though, I watched the race via TV coverage it was such a fantastic race to see a brave thoroughbred go about its business in such gallant fashion.
The race, the Jersey Stakes, was over 1400m which is a difficult race to gauge your pace over, as the last furlong can be such a task if you have exceeded your limit. If you start too slowly you may never get back on terms with the leaders, so to get it right takes good ‘jockeyship’ as well as a decent run from the horse to get it right on the day.
The brown 3 year old was always up with the pace and hit the front with 2 furlongs to go. Jockey, Joseph O’Brien, looked in control however Gale Force 10 seemed to go into cruise mode once in front with his head coming slightly up and it all look lost for the favourite when Montiridge edged past her with the winning line looming. O’Brien went to work on the horse he calls Ronnie (Gale Force 10 is out of the dam, Ronaldsay) and to the horse’s credit he put his head down and began fighting back to get his chin ahead at the line.
Gale Force 10 is trained by Aiden O’Brien (father to the jockey) and races in the colours of Michael Tabor.
It was great to witness and the after victory interviews added to an enthralling race, and what great horse racing is about
Author: Gavin Doyle
The video of the race though the visuals are not that clear
Leave a Reply