Valixir takes advantage as Rakti goes bonkers

RACING: They should have called it the King George Stakes, instead of the Queen Anne Stakes, for the madness of Rakti is all the talk where tall toppers and small silks gather.

Okay, we all felt slightly mad yesterday because that is what happens when they hurl a nice piece of Berkshire called Ascot 220 miles to the north - and, if that does not get you twitching, the York traffic will.

But Rakti was bonkers long before that. For, even when the going is good to firm as it was yesterday, it can be soft between the ears of this outstanding thoroughbred.

When Valixir won yesterday's big race, there was a sense that we had seen the triumph of a fine young horse. But Rakti, the 5 to 6 favourite, was once again not at his best after being spooked on the way from paddock to the start.

A spectator leaned over the rails and clicked her teeth and after that the six-year-old winner of six Group One races - one of them at Royal Ascot last year, the Prince of Wales's Stakes - was out of control.

"He suddenly became a handful and was burning up vital energy," said his jockey Philip Robinson. "I don't want to take anything away from the winner, who is a very good horse, but Rakti was on edge after that. There was nothing I could do about it.

"He was fighting me on the way down and I was pleased to get him pulled up when I did."

It does not take much to spook Rakti, yesterday's star attraction after his totally commanding victory in last month's Lockinge Stakes, where he led from start to finish and left the track record in pieces.

That is why the trainer Michael Jarvis got special permission to use a horsebox to carry the animal across the middle of the track yesterday, from the stables to the saddling boxes.

Even when he arrived, he did not seem quite right. "He's okay, so far," said Robinson, stroking his chin nervously, "but he's the most temperamental horse I've ever worked with."

Bob McGonagle, the lad, appeared to be fighting him as soon as he left the saddling area for the parade ring. "He's as good as gold when he's at home," he said. "It's only at the track that he gets hyper."

Rakti's owner Gary Tanaka was not at York yesterday as he was recently jailed for a week on fraud charges. Tanaka, who is alleged to have misappropriated investors' funds to buy at least three racehorses, has been released on $11 million bail.

By the time Rakti had reached the post yesterday he seemed to have calmed. A hood was placed over his head to help get him in the stalls and whipped off just before the start. But, though he led after an indifferent start, he was well beaten by a length and a half at the end.

Guardian Service