‘Rising Star’ Above The Curve Game To The Line In Blandford S.

Group 1 winner Above The Curve (American Pharoah–Fabulous {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) made it back-to-back scores with a gritty effort in the G2 Moyglare 'Jewels' Blandford S. at the Curragh on Sunday. The Joseph O'Brien-trained 'TDN Rising Star' had won the G1 St Mark's Basilica Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary at ParisLongchamp on May 29 in her previous start.

Caught out wide without cover in midpack early as 70-1 longshot Emphatic Answer (Ire) (No Nay Never) led the way, Above The Curve improved under her own power to fourth with seven furlongs left to travel. Perched next to favoured La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}) turning back toward the stands, the filly was poised to pounce and Ryan Moore asked her for her best with a quarter-mile remaining. She locked horns with La Petite Coco to her inside at the furlong grounds, before asserting and holding off the rapidly closing Insinuendo (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) to win by a neck. Galleria Borghese (Ire) (Caravaggio) was another 1 1/4 lengths back after rallying past La Petite Coco in the final strides.

Racing for Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg, the 3-year-old filly was third at Leopardstown in her only start as a juvenile, and graduated going 10 furlongs there when making her 2022 bow on Apr. 6, good for a 'Rising Star' nod. Second in the Listed Weatherbys Bloodstock Pro Cheshire Oaks (Robert Sangster Memorial Cup) on May 4, the bay was a 5-1 chance on Sunday.

O'Brien said, “I thought it was a fantastic ride from Ryan. It was the filly's first run back after a lay-off. I thought she'd come on a bit for the run. She's a classy filly and a Group 1 winner and her attitude showed in the last 100 yards. When the going was getting tough, she put her head out and she fought all the way to the line, beating a very good filly.

“The plan was that this would be a nice stepping stone for the G1 Prix de l'Opera on Arc day. That should set her up lovely for that and she's a course-and-distance winner already. She's a huge, big filly, she's actually 17 hands. For a 3-year-old filly that's an incredible height. She seems to have progressed from the spring and hopefully she can progress in the future.”

Pedigree Notes

One of six Group 1 winner for her American Triple Crown-winning sire, Above The Curve is bred on the same cross as G2 Park Hill S. heroine Pista, who was second in the G1 Prix de Royallieu, and similarly to G1 Criterium International hero and sire Van Gogh, who is out of a Sadler's Wells mare. Her unraced dam, from one of the best families in the stud book as a half-sister to the 'Iron Horse' and champion sire Giant's Causeway (Storm Cat), and outstanding blue hen You'resothrilling (Storm Cat)–her foals led by dual Classic winner Gleneagles (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})– already produced the dual Group 3-placed Thinking Of You to the cover of American Pharoah. Fabulous has visited the court of fellow Triple Crown victor Justify (Scat Daddy) 2019-2021, and has fillies of 2020 and 2021 and a weanling colt of this year to show for it. She was sent back to that first-crop sire again this season.

Sunday, Curragh, Ireland
MOYGLARE 'JEWELS' BLANDFORD S.-G2, €200,000, Curragh, 9-11, 3yo/up, f/m, 10fT, 2:12.29, yl.
1–ABOVE THE CURVE, 131, f, 3, by American Pharoah
1st Dam: Fabulous (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Mariah's Storm, by Rahy
3rd Dam: Immense, by Roberto
'TDN Rising Star'. O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick
Smith & Westerberg; B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt (KY);
T-Joseph O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. €120,000. Lifetime Record:
G1SW-Fr & SP-Eng, 5-3-1-1, $309,497. *Full to Thinking Of
You, MGSP-Ire. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click
   for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the
   free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Insinuendo (Ire), 134, m, 5, Gleneagles (Ire)–Obama Rule
(Ire), by Danehill Dancer (Ire). (€110,000 Ylg '18 GOFOR).
O-Deegan Racing Syndicate; B-Mount Armstrong Stud. (IRE);
T-Willie McCreery. €40,000.
3–Galleria Borghese (Ire), 128, f, 3, Caravaggio–On Ice (Ire), by
Galileo (Ire). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. O-Derrick Smith, Susan
Magnier, Michael Tabor & Mrs A M O'Brien; B-Mrs Ann Marie
O'Brien (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. €20,000.
Margins: NK, 1 1/4, HD. Odds: 5.00, 5.00, 66.00.
Also Ran: La Petite Coco (Ire), Lyrical Poetry (Ire), Didn'thavemuchtodo (Ire), Rumbles Of Thunder (Ire), One For Bobby (Ire), Seisai (Ire), Emphatic Answer (Ire), Sunset Shiraz (Ire), West Coast (Ire), Only (Jpn). VIDEO.

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Seven Days: Half-Mast

The flag at Somerville Lodge in Newmarket is at half-mast. For the inhabitants of that famous stable it is of course a deeply personal gesture as Maureen Haggas and her family mourn the death of her father Lester Piggott. Over the decades they will have become accustomed to the fact that the head of their family was also a racing icon–a man not just whose name is the first jockey a random member of the public can call to mind, but for many longstanding fans of racing the man who is their sporting hero.

So it is that racing mourns with the Piggott family, feeling a loss not so grievously intimate but a more wistful lament at the closing of one of the most celebrated and remarkable chapters of this great sport.

There appears to be a tendency in modern-day parenting towards excessive praise and a reluctance to criticise. Striking the right balance surely can't be easy, but a smattering of tough love never hurt anyone, and is perhaps often a major driver towards success. 

An intriguing interview conducted by Kenneth Harris with Piggott for The Observer in 1970, the year in which the he won the Triple Crown on Nijinsky, reveals in the jockey's own words the most significant mentor of his life: his father, Keith. Though born into racing, the young Lester was clearly never allowed simply to coast along. 

“He never let me know I was any good,” Piggott said of his father, a former jockey and Grand National-winning trainer, and himself the son of multiple champion National Hunt jockey Ernie Piggott.

“He didn't believe in it. A taskmaster. I think it's the best way. I knew he knew his stuff, and I tried to please him because I knew he knew his stuff. I wanted to be good and I was ready to take it from him.”

And while Keith Piggott may never have told his son he was any good, as the years progressed, Lester's legion of adoring fans never let him forget his brilliance. From Piggott's first of nine Derby victories in 1954 at the age of 18 aboard Never Say Die–a horse whose name would come to encapsulate his jockey's approach to riding–it quickly became clear that a prodigious talent galloped among us; one whose legend was only enhanced by his apparent aloofness and stony-faced deportment.

We could all learn plenty from Piggott's response to another of Harris's questions about the requisite attributes for a jockey, especially when the age of social media encourages almost ceaseless commentary of varying veracity and quality.

“That's one thing about not wanting to talk very much,” he said. “I get time to read about racing, and to listen, and to think.”

Harris issued one final question, eliciting a response which was as telling as it was tongue-in-cheek.

He asked of the greatest jockey, “I've noticed, very occasionally, that if you've won a really great race, like the Derby, in fine style, there is a ghost of a smile on your face as you enter the winner's enclosure. What are you thinking about then?

To which Piggott responded, no doubt with that ghost of a smile, “About Dad saying: 'What about the times you didn't win?'”

Racing is often more about losing than winning. Though Lester Piggott's extraordinary career is defined by the latter, we mourn this one significant loss. 

Sombreness Amid The Jubilation

Lester Piggott's death will be marked this weekend at Epsom, when the Derby, the race with which he is most readily associated, will be run in his memory. The jockey's bronze likeness overlooks the unique winner's circle into which he was led following his record nine wins in the Derby, six in the Oaks and another nine in the Coronation Cup.

When Piggott won the Oaks for the first time aboard Carrozza (GB) in 1957, he was led in by the filly's owner, Her Majesty The Queen, who it appears may now be absent from Epsom on Derby day, which has long been marked as one of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations during the long weekend.
A report in the Sunday Times stated that the 96-year-old monarch would be “pacing herself” in a bid to be present at some of the events being staged to mark her 70 years on the throne. The Queen has missed the Derby only four times during her reign, two of those being through the pandemic restrictions of the last two years.

Take That

Thirty years ago Piggott notched his final Classic success aboard the Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained Rodrigo De Triano in the 2,000 Guineas for his old ally Robert Sangster. He was 56 at the time, a milestone that is closing in for Kevin Manning, who won last year's 2,000 Guineas and Irish 2,000 Guineas at the age of 54.

Manning, who recovered extraordinarily quickly from surgery on his shoulder at the end of October in order to be back in time to ride one of those Classic winners, Mac Swiney (Ire), at the Hong Kong International Meeting in mid-December, shows no sign of slowing down. The same can be said for the evergreen Yutaka Take, now 53, who won Sunday's Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) for the sixth time.

As Alan Carasso pointed out in his report of the race won by last year's champion 2-year-old Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), Take has now won his home Derby in his 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Among his many riding achievements, he was also in the saddle for Deep Impact (Jpn)'s Triple Crown. His most recent major victories outside Japan came on one of that horse's many good sons, A Shin Hikari (Jpn), winner of the 2015 Hong Kong Cup and 2016 Prix d'Ispahan in France.

We may yet see him reappear at Longchamp this season with Do Deuce, as Take said after Sunday's success, “The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe should be a strong option for the owner and will probably be our next target.”

Learning Curve

On just her fourth start, Above The Curve leapt from winning a maiden and finishing runner-up in the Chesire Oaks to winning Sunday's G1 Prix Saint-Alary, sponsored by Coolmore, who bred and own the filly with Westerberg.

She duly became her U.S. Triple Crown-winning sire's 16th group winner from his four crops of racing age and his fifth at Group/Grade 1 level in America, Japan and France. Plenty of credit must also go to Above The Curve's strong female family. Her unraced dam is a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to Giant's Causeway and You'resothrilling, whose own brood, all by Galileo and including Gleneagles (Ire) and Marvellous (Ire), have played leading roles in recent Classic contests.
For all that Above The Curve has a pedigree and connections fully deserving of her Group 1 status, the race was denied the presence of 1,000 Guineas runner-up Prosperous Voyage (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), whose passage from England to France was hampered by delays at the port of Dover.

It is no secret that the Brexit vote has caused travel disruption and extra expense for moving racing and breeding stock between the nations formerly happily engaging under the eminently practical Tripartite Agreement. These days there are few prosperous voyages to be made between Britain and the other European nations. It's a bit late now, but it's always wise to be careful what you wish for.

Bay Bridge Sparkles

Hayyona (GB) (Multiplex {GB}) must have been a good-looking youngster to command foal and yearling prices of 130,000gns and 145,000gns respectively. She was only a moderate racehorse, running three times for a rating of 60 and ultimately being sold as a maiden to James Wigan of London Thoroughbred Services for 18,000gns as a 3-year-old. Now 12, the mare has already paid back that outlay, chiefly via her son Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}).

Wigan's West Blagdon Stud draft is regularly one of the highlights of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, but Bay Bridge missed his date in the ring when he was withdrawn from that sale. Put into training with Sir Michael Stoute, who also trained the dual Grade I-winning homebred filly Dank (GB) (Dansili {GB}) for Wigan, Bay Bridge really came into his own as a 3-year-old and has remained unbeaten in his five starts over the last 14 months.
His imperious first Group win in the Brigadier Gerard S. last Thursday hinted at bigger and better things to come, as does the exemplary record of his trainer with later-maturing middle-distance types.

New Bay has been a lucky stallion for Wigan to date, as he is also the co-owner, with Ben, Lucy and Ollie Sangster, of the Ballylinch Stud sire's Group 1 winner Saffron Beach (Ire). She too missed her intended sale date, this time as a yearling, having been pinhooked by the owners as a foal. So far, Plan B has worked out rather well, with both Saffron Beach and Bay Bridge holding smart entries for Royal Ascot.

Extra Special

It is by now no surprise to see graduates of Lanwades Stud winning major races around the world. So attached was Kirsten Rausing to her late stallion Archipenko that she will no doubt have been delighted to have seen him represented by a sixth Group 1 winner in Saturday's Doomben Cup, even if the celebrated Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}), whom she bred, was beaten into third.

The winner, Huetor (Fr), was bred and initially trained in France by Carlos Laffon-Parias, who also trained his half-sister, the G1 Prix de l'Opera winner Villa Marina (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}). He had bought their dam, the Listed winner Briviesca (GB) (Peintre Celebre), as a yearling at Tattersalls for 10,000gns, and subsequently sent her to Bill Mott to add some American black type to that which she had already earned in France.

It is not just the top half of Huetor's pedigree that Rausing will approve of, however, for she has already bred three of Archipenko's Group 1 winners from this female family herself. Huetor's fourth dam Kilavea (Hawaii {SAf}) also features as the sixth dam of the brothers Time Warp (GB) and Glorious Forever (GB), and as the third dam of Madame Chiang (GB). This means that Kilavea's dam, the illustrious Special (Forli {Arg}), features on the top and bottom lines of all four Group 1 winners as she is also the grand-dam of Archipenko.

Kilavea, a half-sister to Nureyev, was bought as a yearling through Richard Galpin by Rausing's compatriot Magnus Berger, and she eventually retired to spend her initial days as a broodmare at Lanwades Stud, visiting Niniski in his first season there. The mare ended up being bought by Sheikh Mohammed for £860,000 when carrying the G1 Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Kiliniski (GB), from whom both Madame Chiang and Huetor descend. Born the year after Kilavea's half-sister Fairy Bridge produced Sadler's Wells, Kiliniski eventually ended up being reoffered for sale as a 14-year-old barren mare at Keeneland's November Sale.

“I rang Joss Collins and asked him to bid on her for me,” Rausing told TDN in 2017. “I said I'd give him $8,000 and he bought her for $2,000. At the time Northern Park had just gone to Gainesway and I didn't want to ship a barren mare so I grossly inbred to Northern Dancer and she had a filly for me. In fact she had four fillies in four years and one was Robe Chinoise (GB), later the dam of Madame Chiang.”

Madame Chiang's daughter Ching Shih (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who was third in the G3 Musidora S., is entered for the Oaks on Friday along with her fellow Lanwades-bred Kawida (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), who is out of an Archipenko half-sister to the aforementioned Zaaki (GB).

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American Pharoah’s Above the Curve Best In The Saint-Alary

Second best in the May 4 Listed Cheshire Oaks, TDN Rising Star Above the Curve (American Pharoah) made sure she was front and centre where it mattered in Sunday's G1 St Mark's Basilica Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary at ParisLongchamp. Sent up to track the steady pace by Ryan Moore in a close second, the 7-5 favourite was committed with 300 metres remaining and stayed on to deny Place du Carrousel (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) by a length, with Queen Trezy (Fr) (Almanzor {Fr}) the same margin away in third. “They went steady and that was against her–it turned into a sprint, she's still babyish and is still learning and there is plenty to come,” Moore said of the Joseph O'Brien-trained winner.

Above the Curve, who had earned TDN Rising Star status at the expense of Thoughts of June (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in a maiden over this trip at Leopardstown Apr. 6 before losing out to that rival on easier ground tackling an extended 11 furlongs at Chester, could be heading back to Ireland for next start according to Hermine Bastide, representing Coolmore. “She has entries in all the big fillies' races including the Prix de Royallieu and the Prix de Diane, but her next race is likely to be the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh,” he said. “She is a lovely filly and Joseph is delighted with the performance. Maybe she will be bred to St Mark's Basilica in the future. She is lightly-raced and there is probably more room for improvement, she has a lovely temperament and ticks all the boxes.”

Trainer Yann Lerner said of Queen Trezy, “She is so cold it's unbelievable. We fitted her with sheepskins to motivate her, but still she was caught for speed and doing the bare minimum. On the other hand, it is sometimes an advantage for a horse to be so relaxed and it helps on big occasions when you have to deal with the pressure. There is no doubt that a mile and a half will be her game, but I think we will try the Prix de Diane first.”

Above the Curve's dam is an unraced daughter of the revered Mariah's Storm (Rahy), which makes her a half-sibling to Giant's Causeway. Already responsible for the G3 Irish 1000 Guineas Trial and G3 Weld Park S. third Thinking of You, Fabulous is a half to the “Iron Horse's” G2 Cherry Hinton S.-winning sister You'resothrilling which links her to the Galileo clan of Gleneagles (Ire), Happily (Ire), Joan of Arc (Ire) and Marvellous (Ire). Also connected to that sire's G1 Irish Champion S.-winning sire Decorated Knight (GB), she has been bred to Justify for the past three seasons, with 2-year-old and yearling fillies followed by a colt foal.

Sunday, ParisLongchamp, France
ST MARK'S BASILICA COOLMORE PRIX SAINT-ALARY-G1, €250,000, ParisLongchamp, 5-29, 3yo, f, 10fT, 2:06.25, g/s.
1–ABOVE THE CURVE, 126, f, 3, by American Pharoah
1st Dam: Fabulous (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Mariah's Storm, by Rahy
3rd Dam: Immense, by Roberto
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN; 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Westerberg; B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt (KY); T-Joseph O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. €142,850. Lifetime Record: SP-Eng, 4-2-1-1, €180,600. *Full to Thinking of You, MGSP-Ire. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Place du Carrousel (Ire), 126, f, 3, Lope de Vega (Ire)–Traffic Jam (Ire), by Duke of Marmalade (Ire). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (€260,000 Ylg '20 ARQSEP). O-Al Shaqab Racing & Ballylinch Stud; B-Ballylinch Stud, Alexis Adamian & Mme Fan Adamian (IRE); T-Andre Fabre. €57,150.
3–Queen Trezy (Fr), 126, f, 3, Almanzor (Fr)–Elodie (GB), by Dansili (GB). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (€125,000 Ylg '20 ARQSEP). O-Eric Feurtet, Mme Marion le Menestrel & Haras d'Etreham; B-Eric de Chambure & Riviera Equine SARL (FR); T-Carlos & Yann Lerner. €28,575.
Margins: 1, 1, NK. Odds: 1.40, 2.40, 4.80.
Also Ran: Sippinsoda (Fr), Wild Beauty (GB), Blue Wings (Fr). Scratched: Prosperous Voyage (Ire). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by TVG.

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American Pharoah Filly Powers To ‘TDN Rising Stardom’ at Leopardstown

Coolmore and Westerberg's sophomore filly Above The Curve (American Pharoah) caught the eye when overcoming a slow getaway to finish strongly for third in a one-mile Leopardstown maiden last October. Back at the Foxrock venue for Wednesday's 10-furlong Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden, a contest won in 2019 by MG1SW distaffer Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal), she stamped her class on a field stacked with well-bred individuals to earn 'TDN Rising Star' status with an eyecatching display. The 6-5 favourite was more in focus at the break this time and settled off the tempo out wide in midfield through halfway. Making smooth headway into contention on the home turn, she quickened in taking fashion to seize control approaching the final furlong and kept on strongly under mild coaxing in the latter stages to easily outpoint Thoughts of June (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) by 2 3/4 lengths.

“We think a lot of her,” revealed trainer Joseph O'Brien of the June 3 G1 Epsom Oaks and July 16 G1 Irish Oaks entry. “She had a really good run last year and has an amazing pedigree. We couldn't ask for more and we'll see where we go now, but we think she's an [Irish] Oaks type. She's very big so we'll manage her gently, maybe something like the [G3] Blue Wind [at Naas next month] would suit. We won't throw her in at the deep end and we'll take baby steps with her. She really is huge, in a way she's nearly too big, and we'll have to manage her correctly. She hasn't done anything wrong so far anyway. I don't think she will be an Epsom [Oaks] filly and I think we will look at the Curragh [for the Irish Oaks], but it is early days to be targeting that.”

Above The Curve is the third of five foals and second scorer out of an unraced sibling of eight black-type performers headed by MG1SW sire Giant's Causeway (Storm Cat). She is a full-sister to G3 Irish 1000 Guineas Trial and G3 Weld Park S. third Thinking Of You and her dam Fabulous (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who was bred to Justify last year, has a 2-year-old filly and yearling filly by Justify to come. Descendants of the April-foaled bay's MGSW second dam Mariah's Storm (Rahy), herself a half-sister to G1SP sire Panoramic (GB) (Rainbow Quest), also include MG1SW sires Gleneagles (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Decorated Knight (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), Classic heroines Joan of Arc (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Marvellous (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), MG1SW distaffer Happily (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and elite-level performers Vatican City (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Coolmore (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Taj Mahal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

1st-Leopardstown, €15,000, Mdn, 4-6, 3yo, f, 10fT, 2:10.66, gd.
ABOVE THE CURVE, f, 3, by American Pharoah
1st Dam: Fabulous (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Mariah's Storm, by Rahy
3rd Dam: Immense, by Roberto
Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-1, $11,538. O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Westerberg; B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt (KY); T-Joseph O'Brien. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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