Ireland
Starspangledbanner's Precise wins the Moyglare
By Tom Frary
As it had 12 months ago, The Curragh's G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes went to Ballydoyle but not to their first string as Precise (Starspangledbanner) emulated Lake Victoria to emerge best of the stable trio under Ronan Whelan. Like Bedtime Story (Frankel) last year, the even-money favourite Composing (Wootton Bassett) cut out the running but faded late, leaving it to Precise and Beautify (Wootton Bassett) to fight out the finish with the former the stronger by three quarters of a length.
“I didn't jump as cleanly as I would have liked, but she quickened up well,” Whelan said of the G3 Prestige Stakes winner, who was providing Aidan O'Brien with an 11th renewal. “They told me she pricks her ears in front and I was value for a bit more at the line. The way she hit the line, she would probably be better over further.”
This was a straightforward contest, with the only possible slight hard-luck story being the G1 Prix Morny heroine Venetian Sun (Starman) who surrendered her unbeaten record after being snared in the pack when it was time to start winding up. Unlike the winner, she was sheltered from the headwind as a result and ultimately her finishing effort when in the clear was not convincing enough to suggest she would have been much closer. She passed the weakening Composing, ending up one and three quarters of a length away behind Beautify in third to deny the Ballydoyle one-two-three.
Precise had already gained an automatic berth for the G1 John Deere Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf when winning at Goodwood, so this qualifier was a bonus with Del Mar firmly in her sights as it was for last year's winner. “Ronan gave her a beautiful ride and she is growing and maturing all the time. When they are developing like that, you never where they will stop,” O'Brien said. “She got the trip very well and galloped through the line. She loves fast ground, so the Breeders' Cup is definitely an option.”
The Ballydoyle handler admitted to regrets where the favourite is concerned. “I should have put in someone to lead Composing, she had made the running twice before but it wasn't fair to ask her to do it again into that headwind,” he added. “Ronan ended up in probably the perfect position on the winner and was able to control the race from where he was. I'm not disappointed with Composing.”
Pedigree Notes: Precise, who becomes the ninth Group 1 winner for her remarkable sire, is a daughter of Way To My Heart (Galileo) who is a full sister to three black-type performers headed by the Listed Dee Stakes winner and Irish Derby runner-up Kingfisher. The second dam is the Listed Ruby Stakes scorer and G3 Solonaway Stakes-placed Mystical Lady (Halling), in turn kin to the G3 Leopardstown 2000 Guineas Trial winner Furner's Green (Dylan Thomas) and the Listed scorer Palace (Fastnet Rock) who produced a pair of Beresford winners by Galileo in High Definition and Innisfree. Descended from Sonic Lady (Nureyev), Way To My Heart also has a yearling colt and filly foal by Wootton Bassett, with the former due to sell at the upcoming Tattersalls October Book 1.
Zavateri edges National Stakes thriller
By Tom Frary
In a fairytale ending to one of the key stallion-making races of the season, the judge's photo showed the 35,000gns (AU$74,900) Without Parole colt Zavateri in front of the 450,000gns (AU$963,600) buy Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) at the culmination of Sunday's G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes at The Curragh. Having been 18-1 when swooping in Newmarket's G2 July Stakes and 8-1 when following up in Goodwood's G2 Vintage Stakes, Mick and Janice Mariscotti's Tattersalls October Book 2 bargain was 15-2 this time as Charles Bishop waited patiently for his effort in rear.
Showing his now-customary sharp acceleration to enter the fray, he looked to have put Ballydoyle's 10-11 favourite away at the furlong pole but was soon embroiled in a ding-dong tussle and had to be tough to prevail. At the line, there was a head separating the colts who started out at the two ends of the commercial spectrum, with Italy (Wootton Bassett) two and a half lengths away in third.
“They've not been coming off the pace today and he was a long way back, but we said before it was up to Charlie–there was no plan and no pressure,” a relieved Eve Johnson Houghton said after learning that the stewards' inquiry into a late bump between the front pair had been resolved with no change to the outcome. “He's improving and improving and it'll be straight to the Dewhurst now. He wants further and as he matures he'll definitely want a mile.”
“I don't train him, he trains me,” she added. “We were coming into Aidan's backyard, but this was the right spot time-wise for him. That was pretty impressive I'd say–he's never been on this ground before, he's not travelled away overnight before but he's taken it all in his stride. The trickiest part was saddling him. That was the most exciting part for us!”
Bishop added, “We thought it would be tactical and to be fair it worked out easy enough. I followed Christophe (Soumillon), I had to come out sooner than I would have liked and Gstaad was very tough but this lad never knows when he is beaten.”
Pedigree Notes: Zavateri, who was breaking ground for his second-crop sire as his first Group 1 winner, is the first foal out of the unraced Zeroua (Siyouni), who was bought by Avenue Bloodstock for €90,000 (AU$158,500) out of the Aga Khan Studs draft at the 2021 Arqana December auction. Her dam was the similarly-unraced Zerkaza (Dalakhani), a daughter of the revered peerless champion Zarkava who produced one Stakes performer in Sea The Stars' dual Australian Group 3 winner Zeyrek.
Having broken ground as the brilliant Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, Prix de Diane and Arc heroine, Zarkava provided the operation with Dubawi's Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud-winning sire Zarak and the Prix Vermeille-placed Zarkamiya by Without Parole's sire Frankel. She is in turn the dam of this year's promoted Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner and Coronation Stakes runner-up Zarigana by Zeroua's sire Siyouni. Zeroua's yearling filly by Ghaiyyath is catalogued in the upcoming Tattersalls October Book 1, while she also has a colt foal by Baaeed.
Amo's Arizona Blaze gets his Group 1, Asfoora seventh
By Tom Frary
Thoroughly deserving of his first Group 1 success on Sunday, AMO Racing Limited and Giselle De Aguiar's Arizona Blaze (Sergei Prokofiev) justified David Egan's call to partner him in The Curragh's Bar One Flying Five Stakes. Taking a lead from the owners' other live contender Bucanero Fuerte (Wootton Bassett), the 11-2 shot stayed on strongly to edge ahead a furlong out and land the five-furlong prize by a length from Nighteyes (Night Of Thunder) with Bucanero Fuerte holding on for third.
“I had to go with my gut feeling and I was happy when the rain came,” Egan said of his choice, who had won the G2 Sapphire Stakes here and been touched off in the Commonwealth Cup. “Everything happened a bit too quickly for him in the Nunthorpe and the team can really get a horse to bounce back in a short space of time. Bucanero did a great job and really took me into it–I was happy to sit on his quarters and he hit the line strong. If any horse deserves a Group 1, it's him.”
This was an automatic qualifier for the G1 Prevagen Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and Kia Joorabchian is focused on that target now. “I was pushing David a little towards Arizona Blaze, as it's a stallion-making race,” he admitted. “He's such a tough horse and I'm delighted for him. David has excelled for us and is such a confident guy and rider and he gave him such a beautiful ride.”
“Bucanero came third, so he's done a great job to come back from where he's been,” he added. “I think now we'll aim for the Breeders' Cup with Arizona and we'll have a lot of fun with him. He's a tough, hardy, very good-looking horse so he'll make a great stallion, but I'm happy to go again next year.”
Pedigree Notes: Arizona Blaze, who is also the winner of the G3 Prix Sigy and G3 Marble Hill Stakes and was runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, becomes the first Group 1 winner for his second-crop sire. The dam Liberisque (Equiano) is out of the Listed winner Jane Austen (Galileo), a full sister to the Listed-placed Acapulco related to the G3 Prix des Chenes winner Evasive's First (Evasive). Along with the unraced 2-year-old colt Ridger (Harry Angel), she also has a yearling colt by Blackbeard who was a 190,000gns (AU$406,900) purchase by Glenvale Stud at Tattersalls December and is offered again at the upcoming Tattersalls October Book 1. Her colt foal is by Sioux Nation.
Melbourne Cup-bound Al Riffa dominant in the Irish St Leger
By Tom Frary
Australian Bloodstock's Al Riffa (Wootton Bassett) was the only Group 1 winner lining up for Sunday's G1 Comer Group International Irish St Leger and as he crossed the line alone at The Curragh it certainly looked like it. Always cruising throughout the generously-paced 14-furlong test under a clinically-judged ride from Dylan Browne McMonagle, the 3-1 shot swamped the 3-year-old Amiloc (Postponed) a furlong out before powering to a four-length success.
“I was able to take my time and every time I asked him he was there,” the rider said of one of the big favourites for the 2025 Melbourne Cup. “The speed was on and I knew my fella was going to have a good kick when I needed it. I got there half-speeding and he quickened up well in this ground. He's so straightforward and he has a great attitude, so you can put him where you want. You could probably look at the Cup races for him next season, he definitely feels like he can go another two furlongs.”
High-class throughout his career, Al Riffa captured this meeting's Vincent O'Brien National Stakes in 2022, gave City Of Troy a real scare in last year's Eclipse and ran away with the Grosser Preis von Berlin shortly after. One of those rarities that is able to reinvent himself as time goes on, the Owning Hill stalwart was asked by Joseph O'Brien to go this trip in last month's G2 Curragh Cup and predictably it was no problem.
This was as simple as a top-level task gets for horse and rider, but with such a generous giver it is crucial to have a jockey who understands how to let it play out and McMonagle was exactly that here. Allowed to languish while the pace cracked those in front bar the Ralph Beckett raider, the winner was able to move through the gears in just the right manner and deliver the fatal blow at the right time.
“We knew the horses that were guaranteed stayers were going to try and expose the stamina of those that weren't and the pace was really strong,” O'Brien said. “Dylan was cool and confident. “He's been a great horse for us and he always turns up and runs his race. I'm delighted for the ownership group, Jamie (Lovett) and all his team.”
“It was a gruelling race, but we'll freshen him up and hopefully get him to the Melbourne Cup,” he added. “He's two-for-two now since he's gone up in trip. He has the right attributes. He settles well, he has a turn of foot and he stays. Hopefully we have a smooth preparation.”
Lovett was on hand to give his thoughts on the Flemington adventure. “He wasn't a hard horse to identify when he went out to 2800 metres last time. That convinced us that he might be the horse to try and win the Melbourne Cup,” he said. “He'll need to carry weight because they won't miss him, but I feel sure he's the right horse to do that. Joseph knows how to win the race and we have four Melbourne Cups between us.”
Ralph Beckett has Del Mar in mind for the runner-up, “We are very proud of him. Everything went to plan, we just got beaten by a better one. He's still relatively inexperienced and he just loves racing. We always thought he'd go on this ground and I think he'll probably go to the Breeders' Cup Turf–I think that will really suit him and he should get better as he gets older.”
Pedigree Notes: Al Riffa's unraced dam Love On My Mind (Galileo) is a daughter of the Listed winner Moments Of Joy (Darshaan) and a full sister to the dual G3 Sagaro Stakes-winning stayer Mizzou and the G3 Give Thanks Stakes-placed Eternal Bounty. Moments Of Joy is the leading performer for the G1 Yorkshire Oaks and G1 Prix Vermeille winner My Emma (Marju), a half-sister to the G1 St Leger and G1 Gold Cup hero Classic Cliche (Salse) and to the second dam of the G1 Takarazuka Kinen hero Satono Crown also by Marju. Love On My Mind also has a yearling full sister to Al Riffa who sells at this month's Goffs Orby Book 1.
