Aidan O'Brien | Horse Racing Free Tips

Classic Clues in Abundance on Sunday

There is no doubt that the Flat is back on Sunday, with the action at Leopardstown and ParisLongchamp featuring several Classic contenders jostling for position. In the G3 Ballylinch Stud “Priory Belle” 1000 Guineas Trial at the Foxrock venue, Coolmore hold a strong hand with last year's G1 Moyglare Stud S. heroine Shale (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) saddled with just a three-pound penalty despite those exploits. Ryan Moore has picked her over Aidan O'Brien's promising maiden winners Empress Josephine (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Joan of Arc (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), with their illustrious pedigrees suggesting there could be plenty to come as 2021 rolls on. Joan Brosnan's Loch Lein (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was impressive when winning a six-furlong maiden at Cork in September and represents the Jessie Harrington yard, while Shadwell's Mehnah (GB) (Frankel {GB}) looked a filly with a bright future when scoring on her debut over seven furlongs at Dundalk in September.

While the Listed Ballylinch Stud “Red Rocks” 2000 Guineas Trial S. lacks the same strength as the fillies' version, there is nevertheless intrigue with a clutch of aspiring Classic protagonists attempting to meet the form standard of Shadwell's G2 Beresford S. runner-up Monaasib (GB) (Bobby's Kitten) and Jim Bolger's G3 Killavullan S. scorer Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}). Of the Ballydoyle trio, Ryan Moore has opted to ride the Mar. 21 Curragh maiden scorer Horoscope (Ire) (No Nay Never) while in the 10-furlong G3 P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax S. he is on Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who was fifth in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud in October. Another of Rosegreen's Derby types is the Dundalk maiden winner Lough Derg (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), while the Harrington stable puts forward Fiona Carmichael's Naas maiden scorer Taipan (Fr) (Frankel {GB}). There is also the G3 Eyrefield S. first and second Flying Visit (Ire) (Pride of Dubai {Aus}) and Wuqood (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), with the latter carrying TDN Rising Star status for Shadwell and Dermot Weld.

At ParisLongchamp, the 10-furlong G2 Prix d'Harcourt boasts Jean-Claude Seroul's high-class Skalleti (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) bidding for a seventh Pattern-race success as he meets Jean-Louis Bouchard's returning G2 Prix Greffulhe winner and G1 Grand Prix de Paris third and G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe fourth Gold Trip (Fr) (Outstrip {GB}). The card's nine-furlong G3 Prix la Force sees G1 Prix du Jockey Club hopefuls go to post including Godolphin's Erasmo (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who captured Chantilly's seven-furlong Listed Prix Saraca in October, while in the G3 Prix Vanteaux over the same trip the cast of fillies is headed by Miguel Castro Megias's G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and G3 Prix Francois Boutin winner Tiger Tanaka (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}). Only second in Saint-Cloud's Listed Prix la Camargo Mar. 21, she faces Juddmonte's exciting Petricor (GB) (Frankel {GB}) who won her sole start over 7 1/2 furlongs at Deauville in August when the Camargo winner Sweet Lady (Fr) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) was last. In the G3 Prix Noailles over the Jockey Club trip of 10 1/2 furlongs, Bernard Giraudon's progressive Pretty Tiger (Ire) (Sea the Moon {Ger}) looks to re-establish his dominance over another Juddmonte representative in Media Stream (GB) (Frankel {GB}) with the pair separated by seven lengths when first and third in the Listed Prix Francois Mathet at Saint-Cloud Mar. 21.

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What’s In A Name: Joan of Arc

Racing success makes the name of a horse just right in most cases, and this is likely to happen with very promising 3-year-old filly JOAN OF ARC, a winner at The Curragh Mar. 21, the first day of spring. Still, this beautiful name seems so appropriate even now, because of the underlying historical connection between the French heroine Joan of Arc and the great scientist Galileo Galilei. In fact, both Joan of Arc and Galileo got in trouble with the Inquisition–to put it mildly. It was, and it was not, the very same Catholic Inquisition. There is a time difference of almost exactly two centuries. Joan, prisoner of the English, had to face the Church court of the Bishop of Beauvais (1431), while Galileo was summoned and tried by an inquisitory tribunal in Rome, with the Pope almost looking on (1633). Both were accused of heresy and of contradicting the Scriptures. Joan was charged because of her testimony of hearing the voices of Saints and wearing men soldiers' clothes, while Galileo's crime was to have declared that the earth moves around the sun, and not the other way around. Both had moments of weakness in the face of unfair clerical persecution, and retreated for a while, but not for long. They were found guilty. Joan, at 19 years of age, faced the harsher fate and was burned at the stake, while Galileo was put to house arrests until his death. They were colossal figures. Joan practically won the 100 Years' War for the French and liberated her country. Galileo is the father of modern physics and astronomy. The very last words of “Saint Joan,” George Bernard Shaw's play about Joan of Arc, seem a fitting tribute to both: “O God that made this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to accept thy saints? How long, O lord, how long?”

3rd-Curragh, €12,000, Mdn, 3-21, 3yo/up, f, 7fT, 1:33.26, s/h. JOAN OF ARC (IRE) (f, 3, Galileo {Ire}–You'resothrilling {GSW-Eng, GSW-Ire, $219,415}, by Storm Cat) Lifetime Record: 2-1-1-0, $11,747. O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien.

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Minding’s Sister Off the Mark At Naas

On a day when Ballydoyle showed its strength, the regally-bred 3-year-old filly Empress Josephine (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) brought up a treble for the team at Naas in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden over a mile. A full-sister to the high-class G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Epsom Oaks heroine Minding (Ire), the February-foaled bay was sent off the 3-1 joint-second favourite and raced behind the early leaders under cover. Needing racing room in the straight, she was out in good time to carry Seamie Heffernan to the front a furlong from the finish before asserting to beat fellow newcomer New York Angel (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) by 1 1/4 lengths, with the G3 Flame of Tara S. runner-up Ahandfulofsummers (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) a further half-length back in third.

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First Winner For Caravaggio Is A Rising Star

The first runner for her exciting first-season sire, Tenebrism (Caravaggio) also carried the mantle of Ballydoyle's first juvenile runner of 2021 into Sunday's five-furlong juvenile opener at Naas. Not that she comprehended the gravitas of the moment, but the manner in which the daughter of the high-class Immortal Verse (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) dealt with the task in hand could not have been more pleasing for her high-profile connections. In readily dismissing her peers in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden staged on soft ground, she instantly set a lofty standard for her stable's similarly illustriously-bred 2-year-olds to meet. Allowed to drift out to 7-2 despite holding on to favouritism, the bay who races for a partnership between Coolmore, Georg von Opel's Westerberg Limited and her part-breeder Merriebelle Stables was away on terms under Seamie Heffernan before meeting traffic in behind before halfway. Last when switched wide for a clear run two out, she responded notably to a smack with the whip to begin pursuit of the Bolger runner Gaire Os Ard (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) who had looked the likely winner at that stage. Picking up in dramatic fashion to brush that fellow filly aside with 150 yards remaining, she was pushed out with hands and heels to register an emphatic 3 3/4-length success and earn TDN Rising Star status in the process. Gaire Os Ard, who ran a respectable debut in her own right, was in turn 2 3/4 lengths in front of the third Lord Gorgeous (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}).

Aidan O'Brien holds her in high regard and said, “She was always very natural from day one and she's able to quicken up very well, which is what the dad was able to do. You would have to be very happy with her. She's smart and we can look at all those quick races for her.”

It is always to be hoped that a mare with the ability of Immortal Verse will transmit that to her progeny and it may be significant that Tenebrism is her first daughter with her three prior foals including sons of War Front who won in Battle for Glory and Grand Deed. Particularly effective on this type of surface, one of the leading lights for the famed Richard Strauss-Robert Collet combination was dynamic when taking the G1 Coronation S. and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois with give in the ground, on the latter occasion inflicting a rare defeat on Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa). Her full-sister Go Lovely Rose (Ire) was responsible for another who relished testing conditions in Roseman (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), runner-up in last year's G1 Queen Elizabeth II S., while her 3-year-old colt Baradar (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) was third in deep ground in the G1 Futurity Trophy in October.

The second dam is the listed-winning and group 3-placed Side of Paradise (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), a half-sister to the GI Breeders' Cup Mile-winning dual champion sprinter and champion sire Last Tycoon (Ire) and to the sire Astronef (Ire). Two other half-siblings to make a mark as broodmares were Save Me the Waltz (Ire) (Kings Lake), dam of the GI Matron S. winner Sense of Style (Thunder Gulch) and the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Valentine Waltz (Ire) (Be My Guest), and Zelda (Ire) (Caerleon) who is the ancestress of the G1 English and Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Hermosa (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and her dual group 1-winning full-sister Hydrangea (Ire). Immortal Verse, who was bought by John Moores and Charles Noell's Merriebelle Stables for 4.7million gns at the 2013 Tattersalls December Mares Sale, also has a yearling filly by Justify who she was bred back to this year.

1st-Naas, €14,000, Mdn, 3-28, 2yo, 5fT, 1:07.46, sf.
TENEBRISM, f, 2, by Caravaggio
1st Dam: Immortal Verse (Ire) (Hwt. 3yo Filly-Eng at 7-9 1/2f, G1SW-Eng, G1SW-Fr, $1,053,873), by Pivotal (GB)
2nd Dam: Side of Paradise (Ire), by Sadler's Wells
3rd Dam: Mill Princess (Ire), by Mill Reef
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $9,913. O-Coolmore/Westerberg/Merribelle Stables; B-Merriebelle Stables & Orpendale/Chelston/Wynatt (KY); T-Aidan O'Brien. Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO

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