CHELTENHAM, England (Reuters) – Champion jockey Tony McCoy landed his second Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday when winning aboard 8-1 chance Synchronised in a race robbed of much of its magic when dual winner Kauto Star was pulled up.

McCoy, who last won steeplechasing’s Blue Riband 15 years ago on Mr Mulligan, stormed home two-and-a-quarter lengths clear of 50-1 outsider The Giant Bolster with last year’s winner Long Run plugging on to take third place without ever looking dangerous. The 16-times champion jockey was overjoyed to win it for his retainers, owner J.P.McManus and trainer Jonjo O’Neill, who also rode Dawn Run to win a memorable Gold Cup back in 1986.

The trio had also combined two years ago to win the Grand National with Don’t Push It. McCoy was full of praise for the winner, joking: “He (Synchronised) is like me — not a looker but he has an amazing will to win.” The race had been billed as a battle royal between Long Run and 2007 and 2009 winner Kauto Star, now a 12-year-old, but it did not materialise.

Ruby Walsh pulled up Kauto Star, who had been a doubt for the race up until earlier this week after a gallops fall, on the first circuit when the horse did not feel quite right.

“I said beforehand if he wasn”t happy at any stage then pull him up. He made the right decision,” trainer Paul Nicholls told Reuters. Midnight Chase and Time for Rupert jostled for the early lead with Long Run and Kauto Star in a handy position. But Walsh was soon putting out alarm signals and the dream was over for Kauto, who has amassed career earnings of over two million pounds in his career which also includes five King George VI victories.

The field went much too fast for Synchronised at the start but McCoy, a master horseman who dominates his sport like no other jockey, rode patiently away and ensured he stayed in touch. The plan worked brilliantly as the out-and-out stayer was able to power his way up the stamina-sapping Cheltenham hill at the end. O’Neill praised McCoy’s masterly tactics. He said: “The biggest problem was keeping him the race for the first mile. He got him into a great rhythm.”

Asked how this compared with his unforgettable win on Dawn Run, O’Neill said “This is a big team effort. Everyone is involved. That was magic. This is what jump racing is all about.” McCoy’s thirst for winners is undiminished. At Plumpton races on a wet Wednesday he is just as determined as he is on racing’s ultimate stage, the Cheltenham Festival. But on Friday there was no denying how sweet this victory tasted. ”It has been a long while since I won the Gold Cup,” he said. “Time has moved on and you want to win more and more.”

ASCOT, England (Reuters) – Racing’s much needed wonderhorse Frankel maintained his unbeaten record with a majestic victory on Saturday in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Britain’s richest ever race day.

The world’s top-rated thoroughbred was in imperious form, spreadeagling a top-class field to win by four lengths from Excelebration with the French challenger Immortal Verse a distant third.

It was the ninth victory in a row for the unbeaten Frankel, who was given as big a cheer as his hugely popular trainer Henry Cecil when led into the sun-baked Ascot winners’ enclosure.

An increasingly bitter row between jockeys and officials over stringent new whip rules had overshadowed the run-up to the three million pound Champions Day, billed as “the greatest show on turf” which sought to rival the Breeders’ Cup for sheer razzmatazz.

But on the day, it was the superb equine athlete Frankel who grabbed all the headlines with his glorious galloping charge up the Ascot straight that was a joy to watch.

Cecil, bursting with pride over his star’s exploits, said ” He was so very relaxed. It has been a long year. That was my only worry. I am really looking forward to training him next year.”

He had no doubt that the champion miler could step up to a mile and a quarter in 2012. “I think he will be an even better horse next year.”

PARIS (Reuters) – The 20-1 German outsider Danedream, supplemented by his trainer Peter Schiergen at the last moment, strode to a shock victory in the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday in record time.

In a finish of fillies, the fast-improving Danedream swept to victory ahead of the 66-1 shot Shareta with Frankie Dettori’s Snow Fairy, at 16-1, in third place at a sun-baked Longchamp.

Germany’s last triumph in European racing’s showcase was with Star Appeal in 1975 at the mouth-watering odds of 119-1. Both results left the Paris racing crowd in a state of shock.

The race had been billed as a chance for the Aga Khan’s Sarafina to gain revenge for her defeat in last year’s race by the 2010 Epsom Derby winner Workforce.

Japan had also been hoping, with a dual challenge from Hiruno d’Amour and Nakayam Festa, to land the race that has so long eluded them. Australia was eager to be cheering home champion globetrotter So You Think.

It was not to be. The moment Andrasch Starke unleashed Danedream at the start of the home straight, the game was over for some of the finest thoroughbreds in the world.

Amid emotional scenes in the unsaddling enclosure, Schiergen felt fully justified at paying 100,000 euros to supplement three-year-old Danedream for the great race.

PARIS (Reuters) – The 20-1 German outsider Danedream, supplemented by his trainer Peter Schiergen at the last moment, strode to a shock victory in the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday in record time.

In a finish of fillies, the fast-improving Danedream swept to victory ahead of the 66-1 shot Shareta with Frankie Dettori’s Snow Fairy, at 16-1, in third place at a sun-baked Longchamp.

Germany’s last triumph in European racing’s showcase was with Star Appeal in 1975 at the mouth-watering odds of 119-1. Both results left the Paris racing crowd in a state of shock.

The race had been billed as a chance for the Aga Khan’s Sarafina to gain revenge for her defeat in last year’s race by the 2010 Epsom Derby winner Workforce.

Japan had also been hoping, with a dual challenge from Hiruno d’Amour and Nakayam Festa, to land the race that has so long eluded them. Australia was eager to be cheering home champion globetrotter So You Think.

It was not to be. The moment Andrasch Starke unleashed Danedream at the start of the home straight, the game was over for some of the finest thoroughbreds in the world.

Amid emotional scenes in the unsaddling enclosure, Schiergen felt fully justified at paying 100,000 euros to supplement three-year-old Danedream for the great race.

PARIS (Reuters) – Frankie Dettori landed his 500th Group winner on Sunday in breathtaking style, coming from last to first to win the Grand Criterium in Paris on Dabirsim.

The applause at the sun-baked Longchamp track was deafening as Dettori came into the unsaddling enclosure afterwards. He did not disappoint the crowd who let out a huge cheer as he leapt from Dabirsim with one of his trademark flying dismounts.

“My God,” said the Italian, grinning from ear to ear after the victory gained in truly flamboyant style. “It has been a great career. I haven’t finished yet but 500 is a huge number.

“Winning on a stage like this on Arc de Triomphe day in a Group One…I am delighted.”

Dettori has over the years cemented his position as the face of British racing. He hit the headlines when going through the card at Ascot races. His was always the face that made the front pages and he has transcended racing to become a household name.

His greatest triumphs have been with the all-conquering Godolphin stable from Dubai but he reached his landmark on Sunday for trainer Christophe Ferland who confessed after Dettori’s thrilling ride: “He certainly was playing with my nerves there.”

Dettori had effusive praise for Dabirsim.

GOODWOOD, England (Reuters) – Brilliant colt Frankel kept his unbeaten record with a five-length hammering of arch-rival Canford Cliffs in the Group One Sussex Stakes over a mile at Goodwood on Wednesday.

Both horses had won big races at Royal Ascot last month, confirming their status at the top of world racing’s elite but it was the three-year-old Frankel who prevailed.

Jockey Tom Queally dictated from the front in the four-horse field on the 8-13 favourite with Richard Hughes on Canford Cliffs (7-4) happy to bide his time.

But in the last 300 yards Hughes was having to work hard and Frankel sprinted clear to the delight of the huge crowd at the traditional Glorious Goodwood meet.

It was an eighth win from eight races for Frankel who earned a huge plaudit from the usually reserved Henry Cecil, a trainer for over 40 years who has handled hundreds of top-class animals.

The 68-year-old, who was knighted in June, told reporters: “We all need champions in every sport. They create interest throughout the country.

“He’s the best horse I’ve ever had. I think he’s the best I’ve ever seen.”

ASCOT, England (Reuters) – Royal Ascot is celebrating its 300th anniversary as High Society’s perfect summer cocktail with a unique mix of royalty, fashion and racing thoroughbreds.

Ladies Day on Thursday is the highlight of the week at the world’s most famous racecourse, opened in 1711 after Queen Anne first spotted its potential when riding in the forest near Windsor Castle.

Long gone are the days when the Royal enclosure at Ascot was so exclusive that divorcees were banned from its sacred lawns and women had to wear gloves.

Aristocrats once reigned supreme but now X-Factor supremo Simon Cowell has a box at Ascot. Singers Shirley Bassey and Bryan Ferry are handing out racing trophies this year although the honour of giving the prize to the winner of Thursday’s Ascot Gold Cup always goes to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.

She parades up the Ascot straight every day in an open-topped landau, offering priceless cachet to the summer season when socialites head from Ascot to Wimbledon and then on to the Henley Royal Regatta and Glyndebourne opera.

Paparazzi on the hunt for the most outrageous hats on Ladies Day do not have to look far. Publicity seekers sashay about in over-the-top concoctions in the daily fashion parade that was immortalised by flower girl Eliza Dolittle in the musical “My Fair Lady.”

“You cannot think of Ascot without thinking fashion in the same sentence,” said designer Amanda Whateley who is showing her collection once more at Royal Ascot 2011.

LONDON (Reuters) – Long Run stole Kauto Star’s crown and galloped the champion into the ground Saturday to land the King George VI Chase by a breathtakingly easy 12 lengths for amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen.

Kauto Star, the 4-7 favourite, had been bidding to make racing history by winning the King George for the fifth year in a row.

But the 11-year-old, with 15-times champion jockey Tony McCoy deputising for the injured Ruby Walsh, could never get in an effective blow heading into the straight and he was a beaten horse when clouting the second last fence.

For trainer Nicky Henderson, it was a triumphant day as he supplied the 9-2 winner and the runner-up , the 10-1 shot Riverside Theatre, who finished seven lengths clear of Kauto Star.

Henderson, saddling his fifth winner of the afternoon on a “Super Saturday” he will never forget, was lost in admiration for Long Run who is barely out of the novice stage.

“He just stayed and stayed and stayed,” said the trainer whose Champion Hurdle winner Binocular had earlier returned to his brilliant best with an effortless win in the Christmas Hurdle to add to the impressive Henderson tally.

Waley-Cohen, showing no signs of nerves against the leading jockeys in Britain, said: “I was always keeping an eye on Kauto Star.”

LONDON (Reuters) – Workforce gave the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe a welcome fillip when connections confirmed the Epsom Derby winner as a definite starter in Sunday’s Paris showpiece.

The colt looked a world-class prospect in June when winning the Derby in record time. Then, pulling hard, he disappointed behind stablemate Harbinger in Ascot’s King George VI Stakes in July. Harbinger was then forced into retirement by injury.

Workforce’s trainer Michael Stoute craves Arc glory — he has never won Europe’s most coveted racing prize which could be decided at the weekend by the state of the going which is expected to be soft.

Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for owner Khalid Abdullah, thinks Workforce should handle the ground.

“It is going to be pretty soft, although I don’t think it’s going to be quite as bad as everyone thinks it might be,” he told At The Races TV.

One veteran invader unconcerned about the state of the turf is Youmzain who has been runner-up in the last three Arcs.

His trainer, former England soccer international Mick Channon, is not worried about the soft conditions and has acquired the invaluable services of jockey Richard Hughes who gets on well with the seven-year-old.

LONDON (Reuters) – An inspired Novak Djokovic eased into his second Wimbledon semi-final Wednesday, comfortably outclassing Taiwanese giant-killer Lu Yen-hsun 6-3 6-2 6-2.

In peak form, Djokovic cannot wait for the chance to take on Czech Tomas Berdych who created the shock of the tournament by knocking out six-times champion Roger Federer.

“If I perform as well as I did today, I think I have a good chance,” said the 23-year-old Serb, oozing confidence.

“I would give everything to play finals at Wimbledon,” the number three seed said. But he was quick to say: “All credit to Berdych, he played a good match.”

Djokovic never gave the slightest chance to world number 82 Lu, who had knocked out three-times Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick but could not mount an effective challenge this time.

The Serb, a grin splitting his face, said: “The way I have played, I deserved to win.”

Djokovic’s much improved serve paid rich dividends in the first set when he broke Lu in the sixth game and asserted his early dominance.