Rite of Passage surprised the race favorites to win the Gold Cup in a course record time at Royal Ascot Thursday. Ridden by Pat Smullen, Rite of Passage, held off Age of Aquarius in a thrilling finale to the 2½-mile race to finish in 4 minutes, 16.92 seconds, 1.37 seconds below the course record. Purple Moon was third. The Dermot Weld-trained horse picked up the mantle of Yeats, which won the Gold Cup four years in a row until being retired after last year's win. “The plan was hatched a long time ago,” Weld said. “It's a race I've always wanted to win and two previous runners, Vinnie Roe and Vintage Crop, finished second so I thought it could be third time lucky. “We had a good draw and obviously we discussed it with Pat, he's a world-class rider, and I totally left the decisions to Pat how to ride the horse.” Earlier on Ladies' Day, Frankie Dettori rode his second winner in two days when he took the Ribblesdale Stakes on Hibaayeb. He beat out Eldalil and Gallic Star in the Group 2 fillies' race. Approve, ridden by Eddie Ahern, won the Norfolk Stakes, with Reckless Reward second followed by Excel Bolt. In the Britannia Stakes, Ransom Note came in ahead of Invincible Soul and Greyfriarschorista, to give trainer Barry Hills and his jockey son Michael another win following their success with Equiano in the King's Stand Stakes Tuesday. Afsare proved his recent Derby success in Doncaster was no fluke when Kieren Fallon rode the favorite to victory in the Hampton Court Stakes, with Quadrille second and Wigmore Hall third. Dandino won the King George V Stakes, with London Stripe second followed by Caucus. In the Gold Cup, the Michael Stoute-trained Ask was favorite going into the race but faded after a bright start to finish fifth. Trainer Henry Cecil was hoping to land his sixth Gold Cup with the heavily tipped Manifest, although the course looked too long for the four-year-old, which finished 10th. While six-year-old Rite of Passage won his two previous starts on the flat, he recently finished third in the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Age of Aquarius ran hard on the turn for home, before Rite Of Passage wore him down to win by a neck. Age Of Aquarius' part-owner Derrick Smith said: “He ran very respectably, I thought he was going to get swamped a furlong out but he kept going and stayed every yard. “He was beaten by a better horse on the day. You have to be delighted, although you are obviously disappointed to only just get beaten.” In the Ribblesdale Stakes, Hibaayeb's win gave owner Saeed bin Suroor a second win in two years after Flying Cloud took the prize in 2009. Dettori let Principal Role do the late running before pulling ahead 300m from home to finish nearly four lengths clear of Eldalil.
