England
Frankel’s Thundering On gives him four The Oaks winners
By Tom Frary and Emma Berry, TDN Europe
Friday's G1 Betfred Oaks looked a competitive renewal beforehand, but in the end it was Shapoor Mistry's homebred Thundering On (Frankel) who held sway in a show of dominance. Sweeping from last to first with Dylan Browne McMonagle ice-cool careering towards his first Classic success, the well-backed 5-1 shot brushed aside Legacy Link (Dubawi) to win by 3.75 lengths.
“It was effortless, she's so, so talented,” the rider said of the winner who had only been breaking her maiden last month in the Salsabil. “We were coming into the race very confident, she's been doing everything so easy and there was never a moment's doubt really.”
“It was effortless, she's (Thundering On) so, so talented.” - Dylan Browne McMonagle
By chance, the daughter of the ill-fated Pretty Polly heroine Thundering Nights (Night Of Thunder) was beaten twice at two by Ballydoyle fillies who would re-oppose here in Cameo (Wootton Bassett) and Sugar Island (Dubawi) but as the market support in the lead-up suggested she came here a radically-transformed character.
It is rare that an Oaks winner is seen tanking between peers with the race at her mercy halfway up the straight, but that is what greeted the Epsom faithful this time and once McMonagle flicked the switch she swamped Legacy Link inside the final furlong. Juddmonte's blueblood was in turn six lengths clear of the pace-setting Sugar Island in third as the 7-4 favourite Amelia Earhart (Camelot) trailed in sixth.
Joseph O'Brien, who has the live prospect of a Derby-Oaks double with the leading contender James J Braddock (Zarak) on Saturday, was enjoying a first Epsom Classic as a trainer and a first Oaks as a trainer and rider.
“It was an easy watch,” he said. “The objective was to save as much energy as we could, as the distance was the question mark and Dylan gave her a fantastic ride. She's a special filly–she cruised through the race and was hugely impressive. I think we ended up one spot further back than we wanted, but once she switched off good through the first half mile I was happy enough.”
“You couldn't have expected her to cruise up the straight like that and I'm looking forward to watching the replay,” he added. “She races for special people as well and Thundering Nights was a special filly as well, so for this filly as her only foal to win the Oaks is fairytale stuff. I guess the Irish Oaks is the obvious next race, but she'll have no problem going back to ten. The first idea was probably the Prix de Diane, but given the way she was training, Shapoor and Pallon and Anthony Stroud were very keen to come to Epsom and I'm very glad I did.”
Shapoor Mistry is no newcomer to breeding. He's been at the game for 40 years in his native India where he owns Manjri Farm and has won his home Derby on several occasions. But he described winning the Betfred Oaks with his homebred Thundering On as being “like a dream come true”.
He said, “It's tough to win big races anywhere in the world and especially tough in England.”
“We bought the granddam and we bred the dam,” says Mistry, whose long-term collaboration with bloodstock agent Anthony Stroud has seen him develop his racing and breeding interests in Britain and Ireland into a select clutch of promising fillies and “two or three” broodmares.
“The real story behind it is that we tried to sell the dam and we couldn't sell her so we just kept her in racing and then she won us a Group 1. It was meant to be. It's phenomenal because I've been in racing and breeding for close to 40 years now and we race and breed horses in India and a few here as well,” said Mistry.
“I've won three or four Indian Derbys, which is naturally a great thing to do, but I guess this would top all of that, for sure. Anthony, a great friend of mine, just said, 'Come on Shapoor, lead her in because I don't know if you're ever going to do this again in your life. I agree with him. It's a once-in-a-lifetime moment.”
Pedigree: This was also a fourth Oaks for Frankel, who accounts for 50 per cent of the winners since 2019, and arguably his most impressive over Anapurna, Soul Sister and Minnie Hauk.
Thundering On is the only foal produced by Thundering Nights, who aside from winning the Pretty Polly also took the Snow Fairy and was placed in the New York Stakes and Prix Jean Romanet. The fourth dam is the Nell Gwyn winner and Prix Vermeille runner-up Cloud Castle (In The Wings), whose Group-winning daughter Queen's Best (King's Best) was responsible for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Queen's Trust (Dansili).
This is also the family of the triple Grade I winner Domestic Spending (Kingman), the Group 1 performers Luso (Salse) and Needle Gun (Sure Blade) and their half-brother Warrsan (Caerleon) whose four Group 1 wins included two renewals of this meeting's Coronation Cup.
USA
Nitrogen dominates Ogden Phipps
By Patrycja Szpyra, TDN
Any concerns about whether or not she was still Queen of the Hill were dispelled Friday as Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) dominated the GI Ogden Phipps Stakes, earning a guaranteed berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff while she was at it.
A lot was said about Nitrogen's defeat last out April 11 in the GI Apple Blossom Stakes behind the late Claret Beret (Not This Time), and that came on the heels of a third-place finish March 7 in the GII Azeri Stakes. She'd never missed the board on the main track against some of the best fillies and mares in training since swapping surfaces, but more than a few observers were convinced that she was not a fan of the dirt tracks.
Trainer Mark Casse went on record after the race by confidently proclaiming, “I just want to officially say, I'm tired of hearing everybody say she doesn't like the dirt.”
Wandering a touch in midstretch, Jose Ortiz just had to keep her mind on moving forward and she hit the wire with air to spare–12.75 lengths more accurately. Fully Subscribed (Tiz The Law) and Bless the Broken (Laoban) were declared a dead-heat for second while Regaled (Mohaymen) came on to claim fourth.
The final time of 1:46.93 was just one-fifth off the track record at Saratoga. The Ogden Phipps was a 'Win and You're In' race for the Breeders' Cup Distaff in October at Keeneland.
“When they said it was one-fifth off the track record, Jose (Ortiz)said, 'I could have broken it.' He said he just kind of geared her down,” said Casse afterwards.
“When they said it was one-fifth off the track record, Jose (Ortiz) said, 'I could have broken it.' He said he just kind of geared her (Nitrogen) down.” - Mark Casse
“All week when Jose was getting on horses for me, I kept saying, 'The big mare is ready. The big mare is ready.' And then in the paddock, I said I thought we may be on the lead and I told him, 'If so, go for it.' She's got a high cruising speed. I think maybe when you're bottled up a little, it doesn't help her.”
Pedigree: Nitrogen is the second black-type winner for her dam, Tiffany Case (Uncle Mo), who changed hands at the beginning of the year at the Keeneland January sale for $3.2-million (AU$4.5 million) to Whisper Hill Farm. She had sold pregnant to Not This Time, but that foal ended up dying this past spring. Of her three daughters of racing age, Tiffany Case claims multiple graded placed Love to Shop (Violence) as well as two-time champion Nitrogen, and still has a juvenile in the wings named Sniper (Gun Runner).
G1 Acorn Stakes won by Counting Stars
By Steve Sherack, TDN
West Point Thoroughbreds's Counting Stars (Honor A. P.), third behind Always a Runner (Gun Runner) in the GI Kentucky Oaks, turned the tables on the previously undefeated 4-5 favourite with a spectacular performance in Friday's GI DraftKings Acorn Stakes at Saratoga.
Counting Stars unleashed a sensational turn of foot from there and exploded down the center to leave the pair in the dust by 3.75 lengths. Always a Runner had two lengths over Meaning (Gun Runner) for runner-up honours.
“It kind of didn't go as planned,” winning trainer Mark Casse said after saddling his second straight Acorn winner. “I thought we might be on the lead. And then I guess Kenny (McPeek) thought maybe he'd try it (with Maximum Offer). So, that's why you have Irad (Ortiz, Jr.). That is why I don't give a whole lot of instructions.”
Casse continued, “She (overcame) a lot of adversity today, because she doesn't usually like to be down inside and I think Francisco (Arrieta) rode her great in the Oaks. He saved all the ground, but he couldn't get out until late and she came running late. So Irad had watched the race and determined at the top of the lane he was going to get out. In fairness, we had a five-horse field versus 13, it makes a difference.”
Pedigree: Counting Stars is one of two graded winners for Honor A. P. She becomes the young sire's first Grade I winner.
Counting Stars is the first foal from the two-time winner Paynterbynumbers (Paynter), who brought US$160,000 (AU$230,000) from Ken Copenhaver at the 2026 Fasig-Tipton February Digital Sale. She made the first seven starts of her career for West Point before changing hands for US$40,000 (AU$57,000) in a waiver maiden claimer.
Counting Stars's fourth dam Golden Reef (Mr. Prospector) won the 1989 GII Schuylerville S. and was also second in that term's GI Spinaway Stakes, both at Saratoga.
