06 Jun ‘A freak of a horse’ – Bay City Roller bound for the Arc after trouncing Calandagan in Coronation Cup

The Coronation Cup was billed as a titanic clash between the powerhouses of Ballydoyle and the Aga Khan but it was the emerging talent of George Scott who upset the pecking order to land a first domestic Group 1 success with Bay City Roller.

Last year, this Group 1 contest produced a thrilling dust-up between Jan Brueghel and Calandagan, but while the prize-money was greater and Calandagan’s reputation was loftier, the returning pair could not hold a candle to the new kid on the block as Bay City Roller flew home under Oisin Murphy for an authoritative ten-length win.

Francis Graffard rued the decision to run Calandagan in increasingly soggy conditions but the relentless rain was welcomed by Scott, who was swayed by the weather to send the four-year-old to Epsom just 13 days after his second in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

The decision proved inspired as the 17-2 shot travelled sweetly on the heels of Lambourn, who took over the lead from stablemate Illinois five furlongs from home.

Swinging into the straight, Murphy was the only one to drift wide, chasing better ground in the middle of the track. The rest of the field stuck to the far side but even if they had followed Murphy down the centre, there was a sense it would not have mattered. This was Bay City Roller’s day.

“He’s a consummate professional, a freak of a horse,” Scott said. “I’m so pleased he’s proved how good he is today.

“When the weather looked like it might turn, I was keen to prepare him for this race and from that point onwards it was inevitable we were going to run. He stays so well and a mile and a half on soft ground is his bread and butter.”

It may have been the first British Group 1 for the Newmarket trainer but there was a sense of inevitability that this day would come sooner rather than later, with Scott enjoying a sensational run since landing his first international top-level victory in October.

Scott said: “We’re on that trajectory to be running in these kinds of races now, we have that calibre of owner and stock, but you never quite think it’s going to happen.

“I sent Oisin a video of Bay City Roller winning in Munich last year on the way to the races today and said, ‘This is what happened when we last met Convergent’. He’s a very good horse on this ground and I just wanted him to get that opportunity. This is an out-of-body experience.”

Murphy may have been inspired by Bay City Roller’s win in Germany but the tactics were all his own, with the jockey choosing to stick to his guns down the middle of the course in defiance of the rest of the field.

“I wanted to find a nice strip in the middle,” he said. “There were some tire tracks on the grass, so there had been plenty of traffic from cars, not horses, and I thought if I could get on to that it wouldn’t be bad at all. I didn’t really mind if anyone followed me, because this horse goes as fast if he’s chased or not.”

Chase him or don’t, but dismiss him at your peril. Bay City Roller has proved he can go toe-to-toe with the best in this division and it was no surprise he was cut to 12-1 (from 33) for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. His likely big target awaits at the end of the season.

“I don’t know if we’ll just give him a bit of time between now and then but the Arc is his race,” Scott said. “We were going to go to the Hardwicke if he was beaten, but we won’t do that now. We’ll take stock, enjoy today and go from there.”