SO YOU THINK SECURES IRISH CHAMPION STAKES

Click above to watch So You Think winning the Irish Champion Stakes (G1)
(Photo : The Guardian - Footage : RTE Two)

RED MILLS IRISH CHAMPION STAKES (G1)
Leopardsdown, Turf, 2200m
4 September 2011

The G1 Irish Champion Stakes, inaugurated in 1976 and run at Phoenix Park for a spell, really started to emerge as a leading staging post on the international calendar from the late 1990’s and has subsequently boasted some serious showdowns. Fantastic Light (USA) versus Galileo (Ire) and Dylan Thomas (Ire) against Ouija Board (GB) are just two of the recent clashes witnessed at Foxrock, and this year’s edition threatened to be substandard with just three rivals from outside Ballydoyle and only one of those with a success at the top level.

So You Think’s (NZ) (High Chaparral) position among the best that his stable had run in this contest was secured with a latest defeat of Workforce (GB) (King’s Best) when that rival was on one of his going days in the Eclipse. Whether his prior defeat by Rewilding (GB) (Tiger Hill) in the G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot June 15 was a fair reflection of his merit is debatable, but it showed a vulnerability that was unexpected after all his Australian conquests and all the talk that accompanied his move to Europe.

Snow Fairy has been upstaged by the likes of Midday (GB) (Oasis Dream) on more than one occasion, so while she is not in the Ouija Board category yet, her presence in this line-up ensured there would be no saunter around for the favourite as there had been on his first two starts this term in The Curragh’s May 2 G3 Mooresbridge Stakes and May 22 G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

After a textbook first mile racing off an ideal tempo set by his Classic-winning stable companion Roderic O’Connor, So You Think was allowed no breathing space by the filly as soon as he was committed by Seamus Heffernan. For a few yards there were shades of Rewilding about her determined charge, but the long odds-on choice dug deep to maintain his advantage and deny the upset.

“He is getting more uncomplicated and idled a bit in front and gave a blow” Heffernan offered. “When you are on him, you are on the king of the road. Settling him was going to be a bit of a problem, but I was confident I could do that after the Eclipse. When he settles, he’d go over any trip.”

With the Irish Champion in the bag as expected, Coolmore’s John Magnier reflected on possible targets and gave a clear indication that a tilt at another Cox Plate was off the agenda. “You never say never, but it’s not imminent,” Magnier said of a possible return to So You Think’s old stomping ground. “He’s the kind of horse who spoils you for options, so what we’ll do I don’t know. He could run in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes or G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot October 15, or the October 2nd Arc. It will be one of those I guess, but we are not going to rush into a decision. He’s a good horse, Snow Fairy is a good filly, and it was a good race. He’s no different to what he was in Australia - we just wanted people up here to see what he was like, and it makes him a real dual-hemisphere horse, so he’s a rare type. Royal Ascot wasn’t one of our best days, but other than that, this horse’s record is there for everyone to see.”

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

THE SAI CUP, KRISFLYER AND IRISH 2000 GUINEAS

Roderic O’Connor, Anne-Marie, Joseph and Aidan O’Brien
(Photos : Racing Post)

“A FAMILY AFFAIR”

Singapore is a long way from home, but it’s a statement on the international nature of racing that both the biggest events on their racing calendar, were dominated by South African trained, owned and ridden horses.

The KrisFlyer Sprint (Gr1) finally fell to one of the world’s most deserving sprinters, Rocket Man, owned by Fred Crabbia, trained by Pat Shaw and masterfully piloted by Felix Coetzee.

But it was in the big one, the Singapore Airlines International Cup (Gr1) that the South African influence really came home, as it has done so often in recent seasons. In as tight a finish as you could conjure, Herman Brown Jnr at last landed the richest of rewards for his enterprise, as his Gitano Hernando (Glyn Schofield in the irons) bested the Mike de Kock trained, Shirtliff and Amm owned and Bernard Fayd’Herbe ridden River Jetez in an all-South African finish.

Ownership? Yes, you may well speculate. Gitano Hernando was recently sold by long-time Summerhill client, Barry Irwin, to newly arrived Summerhill customer, Ramzan Kadyrov, and gave notice of his intentions with a big warm-up in the Dubai World Cup.

One last word on family. The Irish Guineas (Gr1) was entirely predictable, as Aidan O’Brien landed the spoils for the seventh time. What wasn’t quite as expected, was that his 18 year old son, Joseph O’Brien would be on board the Galileo colt, Roderic O’Connor, who brushed aside his vapid efforts in England’s equivalent a fortnight ago.

GALILEO : WORLD NUMBER ONE

Click above to watch Golden Lilac winning the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (Gr1)
(Image : RP - Footage : France 3)

GALILEO (IRE)
Sadler’s Wells (USA) - Urban Sea (USA)

Golden Lilac’s impressive win in Sunday’s G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches marked Galileo’s 18th Northern Hemisphere-bred individual Group 1/Grade I winner from six crops of 3-year-olds and up - an average of three G1/GI winners per crop. They consist of 12 G1/GI-winning colts, an average of two per crop, and six G1/GI-winning fillies, an average of one per crop. They have won a total of 33 top-level races among them. They include seven winners of English, Irish, or French 3-year-old Classics (not including the G1 Irish St. Leger and G1 Prix Royal-Oak, of which he has had one 4-year-old winner each), including 2011 one-mile Guineas winners Frankel and Golden Lilac - both, as has been noted extensively, out of Danehill mares.

It’s hard to remember now, but at the beginning of 2004 - just seven short years ago – Sadler’s Wells’ stature as a sire of sires looked problematic. In the Wings, Barathea, the surprising North American success El Prado, and maybe Fort Wood in South Africa represented his best form to that time as a sire of sires. It wasn’t certain that Sadler’s Wells was even going to survive as a significant sire line. Montjeu was about to have his first 2-year-olds race (as were, in what turned out to be a critical positive turning point in Coolmore’s fortunes, Giant’s Causeway and Fusaichi Pegasus (two out of three ain’t bad) and, though the Montjeus had created a positive impression from the time they first sold as foals in late 2002, pretty is as pretty does, as we know. Nobody was climbing out on much of a limb.

By the end of 2005, things were looking up considerably for Sadler’s Wells as a sire of sires, thanks to Montjeu’s first crop which included three Classic winners: Motivator, Hurricane Run, and Scorpion. However, Galileo hadn’t yet made much noise; he didn’t have a black-type winner with his first two-year-olds in 2005, and entered 2006 well down in the second five among 2005 freshman sires by progeny earnings.

That was the last time there were any doubts about him, or the Sadler’s Wells sire line. Nightime won the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas in May 2006 and, by the end of the year, he had added two more 3-year-old G1/GI winners - Sixties Icon in the G1 English St. Leger and Red Rocks in the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf - and had the unbeaten champion 2-year-old in Europe, Teofilo, from his second crop.

Galileo’s stud fee quadrupled, from its low point of €37,500 in 2005 and 2006 to €150,000 for 2007. It’s been “private” ever since, though estimates consistently put the price of buying a season to breed to him as safely over $200,000 every year since 2008. He’s been leading sire in GB/Ire twice (2008 and 2010), and leading sire of 2-year-olds twice (2007 and 2010). Galileo’s six crops include three European champion juveniles: Teofilo (2006), New Approach (2007), and Frankel (2010). New Approach went on to win the 2008 G1 Epsom Derby, and Galileo has sired two winners of the G1 Irish Derby: Soldier of Fortune (2007) and Cape Blanco (2010). Those three Derby winners, along with Nightime and Sixties Icon from his first crop, and Frankel and Golden Lilac from his current (sixth) crop of sophomores, constitute his seven 3-year-old Classic winners. Besides BC Turf winner Red Rocks, his other top horses include two triple Group 1 winners, the colt Rip Van Winkle and the filly Lush Lashes. He already has four Group 1 winners so far among his current crop of 3-year-olds: besides Frankel and Golden Lilac, this crop also includes 2010 2-year-old Group 1 winners Roderic O’Connor and Misty for Me.

When all is said and done - in spite of all the sire analysis and statistics the likes of myself and many others come up with – it’s the horses we can identify as “household names” that set stud fees and sell seasons. Galileo has sired a string of them: unbeaten champion 2-year-olds Teofilo, New Approach (Derby winner), and Frankel (Guineas winner); Rip Van Winkle, Red Rocks, Cape Blanco, Soldier of Fortune, now Golden Lilac, maybe Roderic O’Connor, plus other 2011 Classic contenders, including Seville (2nd G2 Dante, to G1 Derby favorite Carlton House), Together (2nd G1 English 1000 Guineas), and Galikova (half-sister to Goldikova, won G3 Prix Cleopatre, will meet Golden Lilac next month in the G1 Prix de Diane). Voila: that’s why Galileo is the world’s number one sire.

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

FRANKEL EXPLOSIVE IN DEWHURST STAKES VICTORY

Click above to watch Frankel winning the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes (Gr1)
(Photo : Dailymail / Footage : Racing UK)

DUBAI DEWHURST STAKES (GR1)

It was billed as a three-horse war, but it turned into a one-man show in yesterday’s Dewhurst Stakes (Gr1) at Newmarket.

Odds-on chalk Frankel (Galileo) swept to the front inside the quarter pole and strode up the hill under a hand ride to best Roderic O’Connor (Galileo) by 2 1/4 lengths.

The unbeaten Frankel had raced keenly through the early strides following trouble leaving the gate, but picked up impressively, causing winning jockey Tom Queally to comment, “He’s a superstar, and he’s done it when it mattered. He’s something very special.”

First coming to attention when winning a mile maiden on soft ground at Newmarket’s July course on debut 13 August, Frankel showed what he was really capable of when he strolled home by 13 lengths from subsequent Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr1) third Rainbow Springs (Selkirik) in a Doncaster conditions event on his next outing 10 September.

The homebred stunned the crowd at Ascot on his last run, quickening clear at the quarter pole to destroy his rivals in the Royal Lodge Stakes (Gr2) by 10 lengths.

With news emanating from Newmarket of a spectacular piece of work last Saturday, further improvement seemed possible, and he was sent postward as a strong favorite despite the ground apparently softening in favor of his main market rival and dual Group 1 winner Dream Ahead (Diktat). Squeezed out as he broke from the stalls, the eventual winner pulled for his head at the rear of the field as Roderic O’Connor towed them through the early stages.

Queally allowed the muscular bay to stride on up to the leaders at the two-furlong marker, and his whip was not deployed as Frankel took it up 100 yards later before running on strongly to the line. Queally explained, “He received a bump leaving the stalls and it set him alight, whereas at Ascot he put his head down and relaxed, but he quickened up well and put the race to bed. Probably on the ground he wandered off a true line, but we’ll forgive him that.”

Trainer Henry Cecil, taking this prestigious contest for the first time since Diesis in 1982, opined, “In his work he’s very relaxed, but when you get a nasty bump like that, it makes a difference and it set him alight. He won well and Tom didn’t need to hit him with the whip. It was lovely. I have to thank the Prince (Khalid Abdullah) for sending him to me.” Regarding plans for next year, the veteran conditioner said, “I’m hopeful that he will make a 2000 Guineas (Gr1) horse and maybe the St James’ Palace (Gr1); whether he will get further, we’ll have to see, and I’ll need to talk to the Prince about that.”

The owner’s racing manager, Teddy Grimthorpe, expressed the view that his targets were not yet set in stone. “I think that we’re not going to dismiss the Epsom Derby (Gr1) lightly. He’ll go straight to the 2000 Guineas and we’ll see how he develops over the winter. The Guineas is the first part, and the second part will obviously be the issue. The Derby is a very important race for all concerned, and we’ll have to look at him in the spring. Henry will be the best judge of that, and he’s likely to have an extensive programme as a three-year-old.” Frankel is a general even-money favourite with British bookmakers for the 2000 Guineas, and trades as the 3-1 favorite for the Epsom Derby.

Aidan O’Brien, trainer of the runner-up, reflected, “He set a nice sensible gallop, and he’s very straightforward. Everything’s open to him.” A disappointed David Simcock said of the previously unbeaten Dream Ahead, “It might have just come too quick for him, he just never picked up.”

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

FRANKEL : AWAITING THE BLOCKBUSTER

Henry Cecil and Frankel
(Photos : Guardian / Racing Diary)

DEWHURST STAKES (Gr1)

In the era of the ground-breaking Zenyatta, Sea the Stars and Goldikova, movie scripts to follow Seabiscuit and Secretariat are easy pickings at present.

There was the glimpse of another potentially notable racing story in the process of unveiling itself in the ethereal majesty of England’s Newmarket gallops last Friday morning. It revolves around a colt named after one of America’s great trainers who is looked after by one of Britain’s finest in Henry Cecil. Whether Khalid Abdullah’s Frankel (GB) (Galileo) will prove box-office hit or false dawn is the question of the moment, and the clock is ticking down to his first major test Saturday in the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr1) at Newmarket. That is when he will have to confirm the abundant promise of his three starts so far, with the first taken in a virtual canter and the next two - including Ascot’s Royal Lodge Stakes (Gr2) - won by an aggregate of 23 lengths.

Cecil is in his veteran stage now, although that is a tag that does not sit well with a character whose natural bonhomie, energy and humor have been his trademark down the years. Still in full working order is his yearning for the big stage, if not for him then for his horses. Standing out against the mirk on Warren Hill in black attire, the publicity-shy, but style-conscious maestro of the stables that adorn the top of these famous slopes was not playing to the cameras.

You never get used to the publicity,” Cecil said in the frank and self-effacing manner which may be what keeps the public, and particularly Newmarket’s racegoing faithful, firmly on his side.

Every time Warren Place outperforms the opposition in the great races, the reception reserved for him remains undiminished, and will be in evidence again if his new star in the ascendant can keep the dream alive on Saturday. Such generosity of public affection, which he has always commanded, seems to have intensified of late in recognition of the downturns of his life story.

With serious illness an unwelcome caller at Cecil’s door in recent times, his connection with Juddmonte’s eponymous tribute to the much-missed Bobby Frankel seems appropriate. At 67, Cecil certainly seems to be reinvigorated by the presence of his latest flame, who swings along confidently near the front of the string on the way to his effortless canter.

While the Dewhurst will perform its usual task of unlocking the secrets of the following year’s G1 2000 Guineas, there is already the spectre of Epsom’s blue riband hanging over all talk concerning Frankel.

It took a talent of the magnitude of Sea the Stars to end the 20 year wait for a colt to complete the famed Guineas-Derby double last year, but Cecil is keeping both feet on the ground on this matter.

DUBAI DEWHURST STAKES (GROUP 1)
NEWMARKET 7F 16 OCTOBER 2010
RACE CARD

#	Horse	Draw	OR	Jockey	Trainer
1	DREAM AHEAD	2	128	W Buick	David Simcock
2	FRANKEL	4	123	T Queally	Henry Cecil
3	GLOR NA MARA	5	-	K Manning	Jim Bolger
4	RODERIC O’CONNOR	6	-	J Murtagh	Aidan O’Brien
5	SAAMIDD	3	115	F Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor
6	WAITER’S DREAM	1	109	K Fallon	Brian Meehan

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News