Racing: Spencer faces ban after Boreas spoils Persian Punch party

Luca Cumani's stayer denies Flat racing's most popular veteran another success but victory comes at a price for the jockey

It was not a winner's reaction, indeed Luca Cumani appeared rather remorseful after Boreas had secured him the Doncaster Cup here yesterday. But then the Italian had committed racing's version of shooting Bambi's mother, denying Flat racing's greatest trouper, Persian Punch, a 10th Group victory. He ought to be ashamed of himself.

It takes something to be applauded after you have lost on the racecourse. Istabraq managed it at Cheltenham in March and the cheers yesterday were for a nine-year-old completing his 51st career start. Cumani understood the mood.

"I am delighted Boreas has won and he fully deserved to, but I am a bit disappointed that he had to beat Persian Punch to do it," the trainer said. "He didn't deserve to be beaten and I feel sorry for him. Persian Punch is the most popular horse in training and it was a shame that he was the one we had to beat. I'm sorry that I'm the one who spoiled the party."

In more than one sense, the Doncaster Cup is a long race. The 2m 2f contest was first staged in 1766, which makes it the oldest race still run under the Rules of racing. It has never been won by a callow horse.

Yesterday's was a particularly punishing renewal. Martin Dwyer rousted Persian Punch to the lead from the start and we immediately knew it was going to be devilishly hard work for all concerned.

As the old horse's big head nodded along in front he provided the quarry to a main pack led by Darasim. One by one they started to drop off the back as if the Apaches were around. Darasim came, joined arms and, for a few strides, claimed the lead, but the effort of so doing burned him out.

The danger, from some way out though, had been Boreas, on whom Jamie Spencer was impressively still. That was to change, with ultimately damaging consequences for the young jockey.

For his connections, though, Spencer did the job, driving Boreas past the huge form of Persian Punch for a length and a quarter victory. It was a record time for the race, by almost two seconds, as the field was blown down the straight by a Yorkshire harmattan.

"Persian Punch was going so fast that he was killing them off one by one," Spencer said. "There was a little bit of work near the end. I had to give him a smack to get to Persian Punch and I knew I didn't have many tricks up my sleeve after that. Luckily enough he just had enough to win."

It was a plan well executed. "I was pretty confident that if he got the trip he would have too much speed for the others," Cumani added. "We told Jamie to take a sleeping pill, set the clock for the two-furlong marker and let the others do battle.

"We are lucky to have this horse at all. When he bowed a tendon badly in his last race as a three-year-old we thought that would be the end of him. We thought he was a write-off."

Boreas will now go for the Jockey Club Cup at Newmarket, where Persian Punch will once again be waiting for him. There is no end in sight for the veteran. "There is clearly plenty of life in him yet and now we will go for the Prix du Cadran and then the Jockey Club Cup," David Elsworth, his trainer, said. "Then he will go back to Jeff [Smith, the owner] for his winter holidays and come back on the treadmill next spring."

Whether Spencer is around when combat resumes is now unclear. As the winners have come this season, so has official scrutiny of his riding style and, in particular, his use of the whip. Spencer had accumulated 15 days of suspension in the 12 months before yesterday and he toppled over a disciplinary precipice when it was deemed that he had used the whip with excessive frequency and also from above shoulder height.

It is Spencer's technique that he uses the stick at Saturday Night Fever angle and it is a style he is going to have spare time to adjust. He was referred to Portman Square yesterday and can now expect a further suspension of two weeks.

"It was a good race," he said as he left the course, "so I'll have a good holiday on the money anyway."