Noble Mission (near side) battles past Encke to win the Gordon Stakes
PICTURE: MARK CRANHAM (racingpost.com/photos)Noble Mission cut for Leger after Gordon glory
Report: Glorious Goodwood, Tuesday
bet365 Gordon Stakes (Group 3) 1m4f, 3yo
NOBLE MISSION provided the perfect prelude to Wednesday's appearance of his older brother Frankel at Goodwood when edging out Encke in a thrilling finish to the Gordon Stakes.
The three-year-old provided a great tonic for the unwell Sir Henry Cecil, who watched at home as the 11-4 second-favourite got up to score by a nose with the 6-4 market leader Michelangelo back in third.
RELATED LINKS
The victory did not cause massive tremors in next month's Ladbrokes St Leger betting with both the winner and runner-up cut to 14-1 (from 25) with the sponsors.
Three-time Classic winner Camelot is unchanged as their 2-5 favourite.
Content to sit last on Noble Mission as outsider Ed De Gas set a
steady early gallop, Tom Queally let some of the main players get busy early in the straight before powering down the outside to serve it up to Godolphin's Encke at the furlong pole.
After a protracted battle to the line, Noble Mission had his hooded head down where it mattered to score by a nose and give Cecil his second win in the race after John French in 1983.
Queally said: "He had to dig deep when I made him eyeball the other horse. He's improving and he's going places."
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, said: "I would think the St Leger would be on our minds after that. It's great for Henry who couldn't be here and I would think he would like to take him to the Great Voltigeur at York first."
Michael Barzalona, rider of the runner-up, was subsequently hit with a four-day ban for overruse of the whip and misses August 14-17.
Comments