Biometric Blocks Dettori Streak in Britannia

ASCOT, BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND – It took a longshot wearing the Juddmonte Farms silks to put an end to jockey Frankie Dettori’s four-race sweep of the card when Biometric shot past Dettori’s mount Turgenev late to win Thursday’s Brittania Handicap on Day 3 of the Royal Ascot meet.

Breaking from post 23 under Harry Bentley at 60/1 stateside odds in the packed field of 30, Biometric lingered toward the rear of the group along the inner rail early on. Halfway through the mile-long event, Bentley began pumping Biometric for more while Turgenev struck the lead.

With 2 1/2 furlongs remaining, Turgenev began pulling away from the field, but behind him, Biometric found a small hole and started advancing through. Inside the 2 furlong marker, Biometric had cut into Turgenev’s lead, and by the final furlong pole, he posed a serious threat. In the shadow of the wire, Biometric caught and superceded Turgenev to win by 1 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:41.31.

“I’ve been waiting for my first Royal Ascot winner for quite a long time, so it is very special to get on the board here,” Bentley said. “It’s so tough. Any meeting at Ascot, not just the Royal meeting, it’s incredibly hard to ride winners here just because of the competitiveness of the races. It is so special and a day that I won’t forget. I knew beating Frankie would upset a few people, so I’m probably not the most popular winner of the day!”

The rest of the field crossed thusly: Fanaar, Awe, Numerian, Victory Command, Migration, Dark Vision, Glorious Lover, Hero Hero, Tulfarris, Finoah, Mordred, Certain Lad, Beatboxer, Motafaawit, King Ademar, Barristan The Bold, Pogo, Dubai Legacy, Davydenko, Dunkirk Harbour, Dark Jedi, Sameem, Dunkerron, Velorum, Hot Team, and Eclipse Storm.

Beat Le Bon, Athmad, Masaru, and Aweedram were non-runners.

Biometric’s win was his third in four career starts, all coming in 2019. The 3-year-old son of Bated Breath broke his maiden on debut at Salisbury on April 28, followed that with a win at Newbury on May 17, then suffered his lone loss (finishing second by 3/4 of a length) last out at Lingfield Park.

“I’m sorry to spoil Frankie’s party, but that’s horses,” Beckett said. “He was flat out at halfway. At the 3-furlong pole, I thought we were going to be last – or that they had gone too hard. He’s had a slightly unorthodox prep because after he won his first two races, to be qualified for this race, he had to have a third run, and the only option I really had was a 6-furlong novice at Lingfield, which was obviously going to be too sharp for him. It was still nearly three weeks before this race, and if we were to come here, he had to run somewhere.”

Biometric returned $126 to win and $27.60 to place, Turgenev brought back $3 to place, Fanaar paid $42.20 to place, and Awe paid $6.60 to place.