Tag: Aidan O’Brien

Dettori, O’Brien Mourn Loss Of Top Ballydolye Filly Snowfall

Classic-winning filly Snowfall had to be euthanized after sustaining a pelvic injury in her stall, reports the Racing Post. Bred by the Coolmore partners, the 4-year-old daughter of the late Deep Impact was foaled out of a full sister to 2016 Arc de Triomphe winner Found.

Trainer Aidan O'Brien mourned the loss, telling racingpost.com: “We did everything we could for her but it wasn't to be. She is a massive loss to everyone here, from a racing and breeding perspective – she was such a high-class mare.”

A five-time winner from 14 starts, Snowfall came to prominence in 2021 with a 16-length victory in the Group 1 Epsom Oaks, the largest margin of victory in the race's history. She would go on to win the G1 Irish Oaks by 8 1/2 lengths and the G1 Yorkshire Oaks, her first try against older fillies and mares, by four lengths.

“I've ridden 21 British Classic winners in my life but I have never ridden an easier one than her in the Oaks,” Frankie Dettori told racingpost.com. “It was just unbelievable. I had the race won at Tattenham Corner. She was at her peak and just brilliant. She went through the field like a hot knife through butter.

“In this day and age, I don't think we will see a performance like that again. I don't expect to ever win another Classic like that in my life.”

Snowfall's dam, Best In The World, has also foaled a 2019 colt by Deep Impact named Newfoundland, who has yet to start, and an as-yet unnamed 2-year-old colt by Dubawi.

Read more at the Racing Post.

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Dual Classic Winner Snowfall Dead

Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), the record 16-length winner of the G1 Cazoo Oaks last June, has been euthanised after suffering a pelvic injury in her box.

“It's very sad news, terrible,” said trainer Aidan O'Brien. “The lads were thinking of keeping her in training but they hadn't quite made up their minds. It was very possible.

“She had a pelvic injury in her box. Sometimes pelvic injuries go the right way or they can go the wrong way. Unfortunately this one went the wrong way. It's very sad and I feel very sorry for the lads, for Derrick [Smith], Michael [Tabor] and John [Magnier].”

Snowfall was bred by the Coolmore partners and is the first foal out of Best In The World (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a Group 3-winning daughter of the G1 Matron S. and G1 Lockinge S. victress Red Evie (Ire) (Intikhab), and therefore a full-sister to the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and GI Breeders' Cup Turf scorer Found (Ire), the G3 Flame Of Tara S. winner and dual Oaks-placed Divinely (Ire) and the G3 Park S. winner Magical Dream (Ire). Best In The World was sent to Japan to start her stud career with consecutive matings to Deep Impact, the first resulting in Snowfall and the second the newly turned 3-year-old Newfoundland (Ire).

Snowfall broke her maiden in July of 2020 at The Curragh at third asking but failed to find the winner's enclosure in four subsequent starts as a juvenile. She first garnered headlines when a saddling enclosure error ahead of the G1 Fillies' Mile saw she and Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) saddled with each other's towels and ridden by each other's jockeys; it was initially thought that she ran third at 50-1, but the mistake was soon realised and she was correctly identified as finishing eighth. Both Mother Earth and Snowfall would go on to Classic victories and multiple Group 1s at three.

Partnered with Ryan Moore for the first time in the G3 Musidora S. on seasonal debut last May, Snowfall was a surprise 14-1 winner by an eye-catching 3 3/4 lengths over the highly regarded Noon Star (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Moore nonetheless took the ride on race favourite Santa Barbara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in the Oaks, but on the first Friday in June there was no question who was best. Partnered by Frankie Dettori fresh off his win aboard Mother Earth in the G1 1000 Guineas, Snowfall traveled inconspicuously in the second half of the pack at Epsom. She began to creep closer leaving Tattenham corner and, when pressed by Dettori, burst to the lead two out, sprinting clear to win by a record 16 lengths at odds of 11-2.

Dettori drew comparisons post-race to the great Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), who he won the Oaks on in 2017, saying, “four out I had everything beat. I looked in front and they were all gone. I just cut through the middle-it was like a hot knife through butter. It was quite remarkable, because I pulled up by the stables and everybody else pulled up by the winning post. I've won many Classics, but none as easy as this one. Enable did the Irish Oaks, King George and Arc as a 3-year-old after this, and I wouldn't put that past her, she's that good.”

Six weeks later, Snowfall resurfaced at The Curragh for the G1 Irish Oaks reunited with Ryan Moore. Buried midpack on the fence, she nonetheless found a seam upon straightening for home and was once again an incredibly easy winner, striding an effortless eighth lengths clear of a trio of her chasing stablemates, with her relative Divinely, who had been third in the Oaks, picking up second.

Four weeks later, it was off to York for Snowfall to face elders for the first time in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks, and the result was much the same, with the bay traveling near the rear of the pack and, when asked, quickening to the lead and drawing away to win by four lengths, establishing herself as favourite for the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

It came as quite a surprise then, when Snowfall suffered her first reversal when second to Teona (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Prix Vermeille in September. Forced to face a bottomless Arc three weeks later, Snowfall was not disgraced but off the board for the first time when beaten 4 3/4 lengths in sixth, and made what was to be her final start when third in the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. at Ascot on Oct. 16. Snowfall won five races from 14 starts for earnings of £885,696. Her dam, Best In The World, has an as-yet unnamed 2-year-old colt by Dubawi (Ire).

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O’Brien-Trained Mogul Returns To Defend His Title In Sunday’s Hong Kong Vase

Last year's G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m, or 1 1/2 miles) winner Mogul returns on Sunday (Dec. 12) to defend his title and leads a three-pronged attack on International Day at Sha Tin from the formidable Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore training and riding combination.

Mogul, a 4-year-old son of Galileo, has not won in four starts since last year's Hong Kong success. However, that victory was his third from as many runs right-handed at 2400 metres on good ground and jockey Moore believes his 2021 performances can be excused.

“He's had a quiet year,” Moore said. “He started in Dubai and ran respectably and (then) ran a good race in Paris in the Prix Ganay (G1, 2100m) before the ground was very soft at Epsom for the Coronation and he didn't like it and it was the same again when he went back to Deauville.

“A few things haven't gone quite right for him through the summer, so he's been lightly raced. His work's been good at home and he looks great. We know he likes Sha Tin and he likes quick ground. I believe Aidan's very happy with him, so we're hoping that he can step back in the right direction.

“He showed a couple of times last year he's very talented. He's a handsome horse with a great pedigree and I still have faith that he can get back on track. Aidan would like to have put a run in him but that didn't happen but we think he's in good shape. I suppose Mogul would look our best chance on paper.”

Moore and O'Brien, of course, combined with the most recent multiple Vase winner Highland Reel who scored in 2015, was second in 2016 and won again in 2017 immediately before his retirement to stud.

Zoffany filly Mother Earth, a dual Group 1 winner in 2021, represents the stable in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) and Moore says she can be forgiven a last-start Breeders' Cup Mile failure and be competitive in what he describes as a “very strong” edition of the Group 1.

“She's a wonderful filly. She's strong and she's been very busy, on the go all year and late on as a two-year-old as well,” Moore said. “The race in Del Mar (G1 Breeders' Cup Mile), she drew in the middle and didn't get away that quickly, the pace was steady and it was impossible to make up ground in that very short straight there.

“She's been consistent all year. The race on Sunday is very strong with Golden Sixty and a live Japanese contingent. It's going to be tough for her but she's got a nice draw, gets a nice weight pull and she usually runs a good race. I think Sha Tin will suit and she'll enjoy the quick ground.” Moore said.

Bolshoi Ballet returns to 2000 meters (1 1/4 miles), after two failures at 2400 metres, in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup and the drop in trip may be key to his prospects, according to the jockey.

“He won a Grade 1 in America at ten (furlongs) and his two wins at the start of the year were over the ten furlongs (2000 metres). He's obviously very happy at that distance. I had high hopes for him and (while) he hasn't run bad races lately I would like to have seen a little bit more from him.

“The quick ground will be in his favor and I don't think Sha Tin will be any problem. The two Japanese fillies (Lei Papale and Loves Only You) bring a high level of form and will be tough to beat but he (Bolshoi Ballet) is a nice type of horse and I still believe there's a good horse in there. He's a Group 1 winner and hopefully can run a respectable race,” Moore said.

Recently crowned LONGINES World's Best Jockey, Moore also picks up the ride on Hot King Prawn for trainer John Size in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m, six furlongs).

“He's very consistent horse and obviously a Group 1 winner around Sha Tin. He's got a nice draw. Pixie Knight might be a level above but I'm very much looking forward to riding him (Hot King Prawn). He's had his prep race and hopefully will come forward. He's in there with a definite chance,” Moore said.

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Contrail Set To Bow Out In Japan Cup

Shinji Maeda's Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn} matched the feat of his late and much-missed sire by sweeping the three legs of the Japanese Triple Crown last season. Sunday afternoon at Toyko Racecourse, the homebred colt will look to add the G1 Longines Japan Cup to his resume in his final career trip to the races, an event won by Deep Impact in his penultimate start in 2006. The two-time Horse of the Year would go on to avenge his only defeat on Japanese soil in that year's G1 Arima Kinen.

One of four of his sire's Japanese Derby winners in this year's Japan Cup, Contrail was runner-up to Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) 12 months ago and has just two runs under his belt this term, a third to Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G1 Osaka Hai over unsuitably easy ground in April and a sound runner-up effort to reigning G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) hero Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) in the 2000-metre G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) after becoming edgy in the stalls here at headquarters Oct. 31.

“The jockey [Yuichi Fukunaga said it too, but in the Tenno Sho (Autumn), if he had gotten a position closer to the eventual winner, the results would have been different,” commented Shigeki Miyauchi, assistant to trainer Yoshito Yahagi. “Contrail had been agitated in the gate and this is the sole concern remaining. There was no trouble after the race. He came out of it well and was back into training without a hitch. He has no problems in gate practice and, in an effort to help him mentally, we even started giving him pool work. It will be his last race, so I very much want him to win one more time.”

 

Shahryar (Jpn) became the seventh Derby winner overall for Deep Impact when slashing through late to best Efforia by a nose as a 10-1 chance May 30. The son of GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint victress Dubai Majesty (Essence of Dubai), a brother to Guineas winner Al Ain (Jpn), was the 4-5 favourite for the G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai over heavy Chukyo turf Sept. 26 and failed to land a serious blow in fourth. With fine weather forecast into the weekend, he should get firmer footing at Fuchu.

“He has a really beautiful stride, so from the results, all I can say is that suitability to the surface is what made the difference,” assistant trainer Nobuyuki Tashiro said. “After that, he went to the farm for a bit and returned with this race as our aim. There are a lot of strong older horses, but this year the 3-year-olds are getting good results and I think he'll give us a good race as well.”

Makahiki (Jpn), twice fourth in this race, and Wagnerian (Jpn), a short-odds third in 2019, are Deep Impact's other Derby winners, having succeeded in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Any of the four would become the first winner of the Japan Cup for Deep Impact since Gentildonna (Jpn) scored with Ryan Moore in 2013.

The Englishman has the call aboard Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) this weekend, one of two Aidan O'Brien-trained gallopers to make the trip. The 5-year-old makes his 11th start of the season at a seventh different venue, having won the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in July and finished runner-up to Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) when last seen in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar Nov. 6. Yutaka Take has the mount aboard Japan (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), trying an eighth different track this year. Winner of the G3 Ormonde S. at Chester in May and the G3 Meld S. at the Curragh, Japan exits a fourth in the Turf. Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) is the third of the Euro invaders, having upset Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) in the G1 Darley Prix Romanet in August before just missing behind Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}) in the G1 Prix de l'Opera at ParisLongchamp Oct. 3.

 

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