When you race at Royal Ascot (just like feature days at Randwick and Flemington), you run against both the quick and the dead.
That's the real point of all this tradition, all this history: not the millinery and processions and car park picnics. Because the horses and people that contest for a place in the vivid, teeming annals of Royal Ascot are also be measured against spectres that never fade.
Up until yesterday, history included the legend that was Sir Henry Cecil, the man who held the status as the most prolific trainer with 75 race wins in the meeting's history.
Sir Henry Cecil vested the last of his genius in Frankel, the horse of a lifetime. Sir Henry is embroidered in the Royal Ascot pageant as a champion, not merely as the man who trained Frankel.
Poet's Word breaks the record for Sir Michael Stoute
Yesterday, Sir Michael Stout claimed the record outright with his 76th and then 77th career wins, beginning with
Poet’s Word (GB) (Poet’s Voice {GB}) in the featured G1 Prince of Wales S., followed by
Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}) in the G3 Jersey S.
Doubtless Sir Michael Stoute will have thought back to the pomp of his old rival and neighbour.
So much for the immortal dead. Stoute also had to compete and defeat the deadly quick too, aptly enough in the form of a champion from the first crop of Frankel himself.
Cracksman (GB) appeared a daunting obstacle in the G1 Prince of Wales's S.
However this time the "crack" horse was plainly not on the ball from the moment the gates opened.
Cracksman deserves plenty of credit for nonetheless pulling so far clear of the third, but he was readily outpointed by Poet's Word (Ire).
As a flourishing 5-year-old, this was the perfect horse to elevate Stoute as the one against whom future generations of Ascot trainers will have to measure themselves.
Sir Michael Stoute to his own resilience and generosity said of his peer: "Henry had a lot of four-day Royal Ascots, I've had an advantage with five."
This referring to the fact that as Royal Ascot has evolved from the 4 day carnival and grown into 5 days, it therefore added extra races to be won.
It didn’t take long for Stoute to pull further clear on the Ascot leader board; he notched win number 77 at the Royal meeting just two races later with Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}) in the G3 Jersey S.
This win brought things full circle on the day: Stoute's first winner at the 1977 meeting was Etienne Gerard (GB) (Brigadier Gerard {GB}) in this same race.
Sir Michael Stoute had been waiting two years to exceed the late Sir Henry Cecil’s record of 75 Royal Ascot winners and the genius of Freemason Lodge chose some stage to do it.
It is established fact that Stoute is the foremost trainer of at least the last three decades at honing talent incrementally, then building a horse towards an ultimate goal and a long held believer in the notion that
“in racing, there is no such thing as surprise in a result, only disappointment.”