FAME And Glory lived up to his name and brought about redemption for Jamie Spencer and Aidan O’Brien at Royal Ascot yesterday.
Ascot Gold Cup victory yesterday saw the five-year-old son of Montjeu follow in the hoofprints of legendary stable-mate Yeats, whose statue now adorns the winner’s enclosure at the Berkshire venue.
While it is too early for comparisons with O’Brien’s record-breaking four-time Golden hero, it is hard not to look at Fame And Glory as his natural successor following his three-length victory over Opinion Poll.
And after a testing week for O’Brien and his former stable jockey, both were naturally delighted and relieved to have triumphed in the Group One feature to land a monumental gamble on the 11-8 favourite.
Despite saddling Power to victory in Tuesday’s Coventry Stakes O’Brien was unhappy with himself after So You Think’s defeat to Rewilding in Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes. While Spencer was irked over his ride aboard fifth-placed Gatepost in the Coventry and had drew a blank before yesterday’s Gold Cup win.
Spencer and O’Brien were reunited for the first time since the 31-year-old was stable jockey in a brief and ultimately stay in 2005.
But with Dubai-based businessman Jim Hay, who has bought into several of O’Brien’s horses, retaining Spencer to ride them it was a glorious reunion.
Spencer said: “The paddock at Ascot can be a great place and a very lonely place all in the space of half an hour.
“I left here the other day wishing I could put a paper bag over my head in case I bumped into anybody on my way to my car.”
The Irish jockey, who joked he “gets on much better” with O’Brien now, added: “It was a very easy, push-button ride. We didn’t go very fast early and I was delighted when I saw Geordieland going around the field with a mile and a half to go to inject a bit of pace.
“Aidan’s a great trainer and his first two races this season were all about bringing him on.
“It’s a privilege to ride him. Everybody was doubting him for the last few weeks, but we never had any doubts and I’m absolutely tickled pink.”
Like Yeats, Fame And Glory is a smart middle distance performer with both winning the Coronation Cup. But the latest Gold Cup hero also won the Irish Derby and was fifth in last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. And a return to Longchamp is a possible next target for Fame And Glory for which he is 16-1 with Coral, totesport and Skybet. He is 3-1 with William Hill to win a second Ascot Gold Cup in 12 months and a fanciful 66-1 to equal Yeats’ four victories.
O’Brien was complimentary for both horse and jockey: “I’ve always been an admirer of Jamie.
“When he came to us, he was only a young, little fellow coming into a pressure cooker place like ours. It wasn’t easy for him, and I can probably be a little intense sometimes. But he was a great rider and he still is.
“I suppose the Gold Cup is the ultimate test of class, over an extreme distance. We’ve seen what it can do to horses but I can’t remember a horse with his class running in a Gold Cup, as a winner of a Group One over a mile and a quarter. We felt that if he got two miles, there was a good chance he could carry it off.”
O’Brien added: “The plan was after today to give him a break and train him for the Arc again, so we’ll take one step at a time and do like we always did with Yeats and give him a run at the back-end. We’ll give him a break now and hopefully give him a prep before the Arc.
“The Gold Cup next year? Wouldn’t it be marvellous.”
