Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 20 October 2025

On any ordinary afternoon Aidan O’Brien’s achievement in sending out the winners of six of the seven races at Leopardstown would have been the main headline of the day.

But that spot came under pressure when news came through that Gordon Elliott had landed a five-timer over in Far Hills, New Jersey with the highlight being Zanahiyr’s narrow success in the American Grand National.

Then, to cap it all, we had what some were anticipating as the best day’s racing of the Flat season at Ascot, with five Group 1s.

The day there started as many expected with a comfortable victory for Trawlerman, the only surprise being his returned SP of 5/6 having been as short as 4/9 earlier in the day.

Then, just over an hour later the unthinkable happened, when 200/1 chance Powerful Glory was delivered with a perfectly timed challenge by track specialist Jamie Spencer to win the Group 1 Champions Sprint Stakes.

I thought I had done quite well to give the 66/1 third placed Quinault a favourable mention in the Weekend Card, but the winner had been well beaten when looking a little awkward finishing last of five in his previous race at Beverley having been very highly regarded as a two-year-old in 2024 when he won the Mill Reef Stakes.

Thinking back I remember writing favourably about him, and I see that his trainer Richard Fahey made some very flattering remarks at the time. However his Mill Reef form had been on heavy ground and did not hold up, and he came into Saturday’s race with a rating of 100 – the lowest in the field.

This result did nothing to clarify the top sprinting hierarchy this season and I was pleased that I had not devoted any length of time to it beforehand.

Two races later Cicero’s Gift landed odds of 100/1 in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. I had suggested in my Daily Bulletin that the draw could prove a major factor over this straight mile, but although the first two were berthed in stalls one and two, horses that finished close behind had middle to high draws.

Then to cap it all, the field in the closing handicap up the straight mile tacked over to the nearside despite the evidence, albeit slim, that the far side could be favoured.

There were intervals when a touch of sanity returned … Kalpana showed no ill-effects from her hard race at Longchamp to win the Fillies & Mares, while Calandagan put to rest my pre-race concerns that he might be left too far out of his ground in the Champion Stakes. As a gelding we can look forward to seeing plenty more of him next season, although sadly only for races which he is eligible.

What can we learn from this extraordinary chain of events?

Well I came away with one dominant thought, and that is a vindication of my belief that there is not a day’s racing when it is not possible to win a life-changing sum of money. Whether it be on Aidan O’Brien’s six-timer at Leopardstown, or Gordon Elliott’s raid in America, or a 20,000/1 double at Ascot … yes, you need to have extraordinary prescience to find them, but the opportunities are there.

Bye for now

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