Fame claims Gold glory

Fame And Glory continued Ballydoyle's great tradition in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.

Following in the hoofprints of his former stablemate Yeats, who famously won four Gold Cups, the five-year-old stayed every yard of the two-and-a-half-mile trip.

Jamie Spencer kicked on two furlongs out on Aidan O'Brien's 2009 Irish Derby winner, and the 11-8 favourite had plenty left to hold off Godolphin's Opinion Poll by three lengths, with Brigantin third.

O'Brien said: "I'm delighted for everybody and for Jamie, who gave him a great ride. Thanks to everybody for letting a horse with his class run in the Gold Cup. Very few mile-and-a-quarter Group One winners you see running run in a Gold Cup. When horses have so much class they can often stay - class makes them stay.

"It's the ultimate test of class when you go that extreme distance. I'm just very privileged to have him.

"The plan was after today to give him a break and train him for the Arc again, so we'll take one step at a time and do like we always did with Yeats and give him a run at the back-end. We'll give him a break now and hopefully give him a run before the Arc.

"The Gold Cup next year? Wouldn't it be marvellous.

Spencer added: "We didn't go very fast early and I was delighted when I saw Geordieland going around the field with a mile and a half to go to inject a bit of pace. My fellow wasn't keen, but because he has so much class he is used to going that bit quicker, so when Geordieland went on that made him more comfortable.

"Aidan's a great trainer and his first two races this season were all about bringing him on.

"Everybody was doubting him for the last few weeks, but we never had any doubts and I'm absolutely tickled pink."