FRANKIE DETTORI was in sparkling form in Rome yesterday when his treble included a Group race double on John Gosden's Flemensfirth (Premio Roma) and the home-trained Taxi de Nuit (Premio Ribot).
Fleinensfirth (1 to 2 favourite), emulating the stable's 1993 success with Knifebox, led two out and hung on to grimly contain the strong-finishing Hollywood Dream by a neck in the £90,000-plus prize.
Clive Brittain's Needle Gun (Michael Roberts) ran well to take third place, a length further back. Michael Stoute's Sanoosea (John Reid) was seventh of eight.
Dettori's other successes were gained on Meknes (27 to 10) in the Premio Kalaglow and on the impressive Taxi de Nuit (46 to 10), who streaked home by three and a half lengths in the £31,000 Group Two Premio Ribot (1m).
Richard Hannon's Deadley Dudley (Olivier Peslier) caused an upset at 13 to 1 in the £46,113 Group Two Criterium d'Evry (6 1/2f) on Saturday. Under pressure throughout, Peslier forced home Deadly Dudley home by three-quarters of a length from Sheer Reason. Peter Chapple Hyam's Hurricane State (John Reid) was a length and a half further back. Doumen's King George VI, Steeplechase candidates, Val d'Alene and Algan, ran third and fourth respectively to the impressive Al Capone Il in the £105,402 Prix de La Haye Jousselin (3m 3 1/2f) at Auteuil yesterday.
Call It A Day and Challenger du Luc have been the best-backed horses at the weekend in the build-up to next Saturday's Murphy's Gold Cup at Cheltenham. Ladbrokes cut the price of the David Nicholson-trained Call It A Day from 10 to 1 to 8 to 1 for the season's first big chase after his win at Uttoxeter on Saturday.
"The Nicnolson team are in excellent early season form and Call It A Day is a progressive handicapper who should be suited by the race," said spokesman Ian Wassell.
Challenger du Luc has been well supported following the booking of Richard Dunwoody and William Hill make the gelding 6 to 1 joint-favourite (from 8-1) with Bag Matt.
Philip Hobbs, successful with Joint Sovereignty in 1989, was full of hope yesterday that Tony McCoy's mount Kibreet can give him a second victory in the race.
"I am as confident as I was in 1989," the trainer said. "It is obviously a tough race and you need to be spot on and have everything go right."
Clerk of the course Philip Arkwright was yesterday confident of producing good ground for the three-day meeting at Cheltenham.
Peter O'Sullivan is set to hang up his microphone next summer. The unofficial "voice of racing", whose distinctive tones have been synonymous with the sport for half a century, aims to retire after the Glorious Goodwood meeting next July.
O'Sullivan started commentating on racing for the BBC in 1947 and by next year, when he will be 79, he will have covered the Grand National and Royal Ascot 50 times.
If I get that far next year's will be my last National," he said. "I don't want to outstay my welcome, but I would also like to get 50 Royal Ascots and Goodwoods under my belt."
O'Sullivan is set to be succeeded by Jim McGrath with whom he has been sharing duties in recent years.
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