Aidan O'Brien Completes a Historic Quintuple |
| Champion trainer in Ireland, Aidan O'Brien, completed a historic quintuple when making the Dubai Duty Free-sponsored Irish Derby (Gr.1; 2400 m.) his own last Sunday. He had won the race with sons of Coolmore stallions in each of the past four seasons, and did so once again with the Galileo colt Cape Blanco. Correctly selected – from amongst the five fielded by O'Brien – by retained rider Johnny Murtagh, the chestnut only just prevailed by half a length over his stablemate Midas Touch (also by Galileo). A length and a half further behind came Jan Vermeer (by Montjeu) to complete a "trifecta" for the stable, a rare achievement in a classic. Oddly Cape Blanco was not the public choice – that honour went to the supplemented Monterosso, who could do no better than fourth. Probably he had not recovered from his exertions in the King Edward VII Stakes (Gr.2) just nine days earlier. After the race, O’Brien commented about his winner: “Today he showed himself to be the horse we always believed him to be”. Cape Blanco, who is the only horse to have beaten this year's Epsom Derby winner, Workforce (by King's Best), is likely to reappear in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes (Gr.1) at Ascot at the end of July. Here he will probably match strides with that opponent once again, a prospect to be relished. Earlier the same afternoon, O'Brien's stranglehold – he had 11 wins in the race in the last 13 years – on the 6 fur. Ladbrokes.Com Railway Stakes (Gr.2) for 2-year-olds at The Curragh was disrupted. His ward Samuel Morse (by Danehill Dancer) narrowly failed to hang on to the lead he held entering the final furlong and ended a flared nostril behind the Jeremy Noseda-saddled British challenger Formosina (Footstepsinthesand—Scarlett Rose, by Royal Applause) at the wire. The winner was ridden in style by the inimitable Ryan Moore. O'Brien was also out of luck in the supporting Group 1 event, the Audi Pretty Polly Stakes, the previous afternoon where his filly Remember When, who was adjudged by the market to hold the best chance of winning, failed to oblige and finished out of the placings. The Master of Ballydoyle's perennial rivals for the title of leading trainer in Ireland are Jim Bolger and the master of Rosewell House, Dermot Weld – the latter got Chinese White (Dalakhani – Chiang Mai, by Sadler's Wells) to improve just the little bit necessary for the five-year-old to be able to record her first Gr.1 victory. Interestingly, Chinese White is already in foal to Kildangan resident, Cape Cross, so her owner Lady O'Reilly has something special to look forward to next year. The Aga Khan's Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase (Gr.1) winner, Daryakana (by Selkirk), had lost her unbeaten tag to Plumania (by Anabaa) in the Prix Corrida (Gr.2) in May. Aiming to gain revenge in the 2400 m. Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Gr.1), at the Hippodrome de Saint-Cloud outside Paris, last Sunday, she was warmly supported but was run out of it in a blanket finish which saw her a short neck shy of the luckless Youmzain (by Sinndar), who in turn was a nose behind the Wertheimer home-bred Plumania. It looks like Andre Fabre has worked his considerable magic once again, extracting improvement from the last-named, who went winless last year. As in all her dozen previous appearances, Olivier Peslier was at the controls astride Plumania. North America Devil May Care (Malibu Moon – Kelli´s Ransom, by Red Ransom) had little difficulty annexing the rich 1-1/16 mile Mother Goose Stakes (Gr.1) at Belmont Park last Saturday. John Velasquez had to barely move a muscle to get Todd Pletcher's charge into the lead at the top of the straight, but she was running out of gas in the final furlong, although not enough to warrant use of the whip. The Glencrest Farm runner thus gave her 43-year-old trainer a welcome birthday present. Born in Texas, Pletcher is firing at a phenomenal 27% clip this year, a figure which rises to 59% if considering only favourites at even money or shorter. Hot favourite for the Iowa Derby (Gr.3), Winslow Homer (by Unbridled Song) along with four others were thoroughly outpointed by the California challenger Concord Point (Tapit-Harve De Grace, by Boston Harbor) last Saturday. The roan colt scored by an easy 8-1/2 lengths at Prairie Meadows in new track record time of 1:40.37 for the 1-1/16 miles on dirt. Bob Baffert did a great job by placing his charge astutely – despite having to travel him 1,710 miles from his home base in Southern California, where he had made all his racetrack appearances. Martin Garcia continued his association with the Kaleem Shah-owned three-year-old. Incidentally, Shah is a nephew of popular Western India veteran, Syed Shah. That grand gelding, Rahy's Attorney (by Crown Attorney) attempted to defend his title when lining up for the 1600 m. King Edward Stakes (Gr.2) over the turf track at Toronto's Woodbine racecourse last Sunday. He was opposed by 8 others, including the US-challenger Get Stormy (by Stormy Atlantic), coming off a sequence of five consecutive wins, and Grand Adventure (by Grand Slam), winner of the 1600 m. Summer Stakes (Gr.3) over course and distance at 2 and of the 1400 m. Connaught Cup (Gr.3) last time out. Sporting the well known silks of Sam-Son Farms, the Kentucky-bred Grand Adventure assumed command after 1200 m. had been traversed and scooted clear by a length. Ice Bear (by Maria's Mon) was third. Japan The richly-endowed Takarazuka Kinen (Gr.1) run over 2,200 m. at Hanshin Racecourse fell to the rank outsider Nakayama Festa (by Stay Gold) by half a length over the top filly – and crowd favourite – Buena Vista (by Special Week). The 37-to-1 shot thus succeeded where his more illustrious sire had failed. Stay Gold had made four attempts to annex this race, with a runner-up effort the best result although he was on the board on all those occasions. |
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