Bay City Roller Capitalized on the Downpour and Pulled Off an Upset in the Coronation Cup
- Turf Diario
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Under a relentless downpour at Epsom, the pupil of George Scott crushed his rivals by 10 lengths; Calandagan suffered an unexpected defeat and Jan Brueghel finished second
EPSOM DOWNS, England (Special to Turf Diario).– What promised to be a new chapter in the rivalry between Calandagan (Gleneagles) and Jan Brueghel (Galileo) ended up turning into a completely different story. The torrential rain that punished Epsom throughout the entire card altered the scenario completely and opened the door for Bay City Roller to deliver the finest performance of his career.
Over a surface that grew increasingly heavy and demanding, the son of New Bay moved like a fish in water and ended up dominating the Coolmore Coronation Cup (G1)—one of the feature attractions of the day preceding the Derby—with astonishing ease.
Ridden by Oisin Murphy for trainer George Scott, the Victorious Forever Racing representative took control when the main favorites began to succumb to the brutal track conditions and drew away to a spectacular 10-length victory.
The clock stopped at 2m40s8/100 for the 2400 meters, while behind him Jan Brueghel managed to rescue the runner-up spot, finishing 5 1/2 lengths ahead of Lambourn (Australia), another Ballydoyle representative. Much further back, and completely out of the race, finished Calandagan, defeated by a total of 41 1/2 lengths in an unrecognizable performance.
The race was settled well before the homestretch. While the favorites battled against the mud and physical exhaustion, Bay City Roller galloped comfortably along the outside of the track, executing the plan previously devised by his team.
"I wanted it to rain so hard that people wouldn't even want to get out of their cars," Scott joked after the victory. "That is exactly the ground where Bay City Roller feels most comfortable. He is a very tough horse and today he showed everything he can do."
The trainer explained that, although some previous results seemed to indicate that the best part of the track was along the rails, he never thought about modifying the strategy.
"After Sparks Fly's (Muhaarar) victory in the previous race, Oisin asked me if we should change the plan, but I told him to stick to the grandstand side. At Epsom, when it rains, that section normally works better. And furthermore, honestly, I think today he was the best horse regardless of where he had run," he added.
For Scott, the triumph represents the greatest success of his career and opens up new perspectives for the second half of the season.
Although he did not completely rule out a participation in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) at Ascot, he acknowledged that the grand objective might lie further ahead.
"We will probably build the campaign thinking about the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He is a difficult horse to stop because when he rests he goes crazy and wants to run all the time. But the idea is to focus on the autumn," he pointed out.
On the other side of the spectrum was the massive disappointment of Francis Graffard with Calandagan. The world's top-rated horse according to the Longines rankings arrived at Epsom following an extraordinary international campaign that included G1 victories in France, England, Japan, and Dubai. However, he never found his stride in the mud and finished completely spent.
"I made a mistake by running him," Graffard honestly admitted. "I had never seen him finish a race so tired. I walked the track in the morning and the conditions were very different from what we encountered later. It was a chaotic race, with the horses scattered all over the straightaway. I am disappointed for him."
The French handler assured that Mickael Barzalona stopped asking him for an effort as soon as he realized he stood no chance: "He was ready to compete, but on this very heavy ground he couldn't do it. Now we will target the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1) and then we will try to defend his crown in the King George. The important thing is that he comes out of this experience well."
For Bay City Roller, on the other hand, the afternoon was perfect. Under a rain that ruined the plans of many, he found exactly the conditions he needed to secure the most important victory of his career and place his name among the top European stayers of the moment.
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