Dettori so persuasive on Shantou

Racing

Kieren Fallon may not have been able to untangle Bosra Sham in time to win Saturday's Eclipse Stakes but he did manage one near-impossible trick yesterday, when his sacking from the filly overshadowed a treble from Frankie Dettori which included one of the slickest pieces of riding we are likely to see all year.

Dettori managed to persuade Shantou, one of the most difficult rides in racing, to stick his neck out again when Swain attacked with a powerful surge in the Princess Of Wales's Stakes.

Dettori was released by Godolphin, who flew in Mick Kinane to ride Swain, the favourite, because he has struck up such a successful partnership with Shantou, last year's St Leger winner.

"Great jockeys like Pat Eddery and Mick Kinane have found him troublesome to ride. I don't know why he [Dettori] gets on so well with him. He never rides him at home," John Gosden, the winning trainer, said.

A Group One winner in Italy already this season, Shantou turned the tables on Swain, who had finished a place ahead of him in the Breeders' Cup, to beat his rival by a head. "There are races in Germany and Italy for him and there is the Irish St Leger. The programme here doesn't suit him.

"For a little horse he has improved, but though the King George is a strong possibility, it is possible you may never see him in England again."

Swain, running his first race for Godolphin, will be aimed at the top races but the King George, for which Predappio is the team's chief contender, seems an unlikely target.

Shantou starred in a 123-1 treble for Dettori, also successful on Asfurah and Noisette, who completed a double for Gosden.

Asfurah followed up her Royal Ascot victory with success in the Cherry Hinton Stakes, defeating Crazee Mental by a length and will now be aimed at either the Princess Margaret Stakes at Ascot or the Heinz 57 Stakes in Ireland.

"She is very progressive, very athletic, very mature for her age and, more importantly, she has a lot of class. We are very pleased with her," Simon Crisford, Godolphon's racing manager, said.

The last two runnings of the Strutt & Parker Maiden Stakes has given us Bahhare, Alhaarth and Mark Of Esteem. But with two divisions of the race yesterday it was the John Dunlop-trained debutant Haami who impressed bookmakers most. The son of Nashwan earned quotes ranging from 12-1 to 25-1 for next year's 2,000 Guineas following his two lengths victory over Opera King.

Betting on a more imminent Classic opened yesterday with Paddy Power quoting the Henry Cecil-trained, Fallon-ridden Yashmak as 5-4 favourite for Sunday's Irish Oaks at the Curragh. Yashmak runs instead of her stable- companion, the Oaks winner Reams Of Verse.

After weighing up the options for owner Khalid Abdullah's two star middle- distance fillies, Cecil decided not to fork out IRpounds 25,0000 to add the Epsom victor to the field.

"Reams Of Verse has done very well but she has got races like the Yorkshire Oaks to go for later on and she would have to be supplemented for IRpounds 25,000," the trainer explained .