It could have been so very much worse."At Chantilly yesterday, Mick Channon-trained Rocamadour did best of the raiders in the Prix Jean Prat in third place, beaten a nose by runner-up Starpix on the line as Turtle Bowl swept to a length victory.The Group One circus next pitches up tomorrow at Newmarket, where last year's winner Soviet Song is among seven distaffers declared yesterday for the Falmouth Stakes on the opening day of the July meeting.. The Italian, the reigning champion rider, will be out of action for at least a month; Jamie Spencer is now as short as 4-6 to take the title and rather rubbed home the point by riding the first four winners at Carlisle on Saturday night.Celtic Mill, who crashed to the ground and flipped over twice after clipping a rival's heels, was reported undamaged yesterday by trainer David Barker."I saw Frankie afterwards," he said, "and he was shocked and sore. Hindsight is a very potent weapon."Oratorio's victory set a statistical precedent, for never before have four different winners of Europe's four premier juvenile contests gone on to score at Group One level at three.The Aidan O'Brien- trained son of Danehill, who took France's Grand Criterium last year, followed the examples of Dubawi (National Stakes, Irish 2,000 Guineas), Shamardal ( Dewhurst Stakes, French Guineas and Derby and St James's Palace Stakes) and Motivator (Racing Post Trophy).The Godolphin team must now do without both Shamardal, conqueror of Oratorio at York but retired on Friday with a chipped ankle bone, and Frankie Dettori, who broke a collarbone in a ghastly fall from Celtic Mill in the opening contest at Sandown on Saturday. From then the 2-5 favourite was always going slower than ideal for Johnny Murtagh, who had his hands full of tugging, rather than taut, reins."I'm sure our horse is effective over a mile and a quarter," said Bell. For a championship race it was a very slow time."The ground was possibly a factor as well but he could have been going two strides faster from a long way out and I think we might have had it in the bag But it's so easy to be wise after the event. Give credit to the winner but I have to say had they gone a faster pace Oratorio would possibly have struggled to lay up even more.
"It's deeply disappointing he got beaten but I think it was the muddling pace as much as anything that accounted for his defeat. He has no divine right to win every race he's in and I hope he has been only temporarily dethroned."Bell is of the opinion that the uneven pace of the Eclipse Stakes, rather than the trip or the fast underfoot conditions, was the prime factor in the Royal Ascot Racing Club star's first reverse.Motivator sprang keenly from the stalls and led through the first quarter-mile, before Hazyview took over and steadied the gallop. The eight who passed, most recently Mill Reef and Nashwan, all well above average Derby winners, and Bell and his team may take comfort from the fact that among those who failed were two more superior performers, Sir Ivor and Reference Point.The last-named redeemed his reputation in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes once returned to a mile and a half and the contest, to be run at Newbury 19 days hence is the next obvious target for Motivator, who remains among its market leaders.The date, though, is only lightly pencilled in "We have no set plan," said Bell "Realistically, the King George might come a bit soon But we have yet to discuss it The most important thing is that the horse is fine. Derby winner Motivator emerged from his box yesterday morning physically and mentally unscathed by his half-length Eclipse Stakes defeat by Oratorio, but plans remain in abeyance for the vanquished hero "He's fine," said trainer Michael Bell.
"He ate up when he got home on Saturday night, he had a lead out this morning and he's none the worse for his exertions. In fact, looking at him standing in his box he doesn't look as though he had a tough race at all." The Derby is seldom the most rigorous examination a three-year-old will face in the course of a full season and the drop back to 10 furlongs at Sandown is a difficult test. What the President should do is what's right for America and the world." He added: "The G8 is not a place where you can negotiate a new climate change treaty."In the interview Mr Bush said he would be prepared to scrap subsidies for US farmers to help African producers "if our fine friends in the European Union" did so as well This challenge will pit him against M. Chirac, who is bitterly opposed to scrapping subsidies under the EU's Common Agricultural policy.Meanwhile, on Saturday, Mr Blair met Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, to talk about a proposal to help raise Palestinian "living standards" on the Gaza Strip and West Bank.. Jacques Chirac, the French President, said at a news briefing with Russia's Vladimir Putin and Germany's Gerhard Schr?: "We have had some difficult discussions and it looks like we are heading towards an agreement."Mr Blair, in an interview with Time magazine, appeared to acknowledge that the US President would not back him at Gleneagles because of his support over the Iraq war.Asked if Mr Bush owes him over his support for Iraq, Mr Blair replied: "That isn't the right way to look at it. Asked by Sir Trevor McDonald, in an interview to be broadcast tonight on ITV1, whether the Prime Minister could expect "unstinting support" because of Britain's backing for Iraq, Mr Bush replied: "You know, Tony Blair made decisions on what he thought was best for the people of Great Britain, and I made decisions on what I thought was best for Americans.