The same "novice" gave him an absolute peach to absolutely murder the Duty Free though. I can't have the fact that he went off too quick in the Queen Anne, he went off the same pace in the Duty Free. The reason for his Queen Anne performance is one, or a combination of the following....
1. Godolphin have ruined the horse, he wouldn't be the first.
2. He was possibly running on substances which are banned in the UK.
3. He is better round a turn, let me reproduce something from Nick Mordin....
The big shock in the race was the appalling run of Dubai Duty Free winner GLADIATORUS (21). He's the best horse in the world, both on official figures and mine, so his near twenty length flop was astonishing. If he'd run to the form he'd shown in Dubai he would have won this comfortably.
Barring some unreported physical problem, the most likely explanation for the dreadful run of Gladiatorus was the straight course.
Gladiatorus is a free running horse. He blasted five lengths clear at a very strong pace here before folding. It now seems probable that he needs a turn to curb his exuberance and a relatively short homestraight.
The only previous time that Gladiatorus ran on a straight course was when he finished sixth by seven and a half lengths in a Group 3 at a two year old. That stood as his worst lifetime run till his Queen Anne disaster.
The only time that Gladiatorus has run on a track with a really long homestraight was when he surrendered a four length lead up the half mile finishing stretch at San Siro when running second in the Gran Criterium. Gladiatorus has won nine of his ten starts on round courses with homestraights less than half a mile in length. He ran second in his sole loss and I'm betting he had some excuse.
The worrying question now is exactly where does Gladiatorus go from here? If my analysis is right he's going to be unsuited to pretty much all the big European races he's now entered in or could be entered in. The ones that don't feature straight courses or half mile plus homestraights have steep uphill finishes which will probably be just as bad for Gladiatorus.
It seems to me that Gladiatorus is on the wrong continent. In Europe there's basically nothing for him. But in America every track is dead flat, tight with a short homestraight. And the firm ground that Gladiatorus favours is the norm. He could easily rack up two or three Grade 1 wins there and end up a hot favourite for the Breeders' Cup Mile, a race he's eligible for without the need to pay a big supplementary entry fee.
