Caravaggio might not have been the quickest out of the stalls but he was quickest where it mattered.
Aidan O’Brien had apparently clocked Caravaggio at 45mph on the gallops at Ballydoyle and he showed that speed to win the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot yesterday.
The biggest scare for Ryan Moore came, perhaps, when Caravaggio reared up just before the stalls opened and again when the horse seemed to hit a flat spot in the penultimate furlong. But then he hit the full extent of his powerful stride to cut down Harry Angel in the last 75 yards to win by three-quarters of a length.
Moore, who also rode Winter to win the Coronation Stakes for O’Brien, said: "He reared in the stalls before the starter let them go, but soon got into a good rhythm.
“It’s the first time he has ever been asked a serious question so he was a bit unsure when he got the message, but he's responded very well. I think there is some more improvement in him.
"I had two very good horses in front of me and they weren't stopping. It was a very good performance and these horses have a serious amount of talent. He’s a very, very good colt and that was a very good race.”
Caravaggio’s next race is likely to be the July Cup at Newmarket but O’Brien said that he could contest The Everest, a Aus$10million race run in Australia in October.
Permian would not win many votes as the best horse around. But he would be a strong contender for the title of the toughest.
In April he was beaten in a handicap at Bath, in May he won the Dante Stakes at York but then he appeared to have hit the ceiling of his talent when 10th in the Derby at Epsom earlier this month.
But courage is a talent too and - in a season when the three-year-old middle-distance colts may not be a vintage crop – he battled from the home turn to beat Khalidi by half a length in the King Edward VII Stakes.
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