Tag: G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup

Alenquer Wins An Epic Tattersalls Gold Cup

The William Haggas show had another stirring episode at The Curragh on Sunday as M M Stables' Alenquer (Fr) (Adlerflug {Ger}) came out on top of a thrilling finale to a G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup which will be recalled for some time. Last year's G2 King Edward VII S. winner had lost a front shoe when a gallant sixth in the Mar. 26 G1 Dubai Sheema Classic when last seen, having readily beaten Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) previously in the G3 Winter Derby at Lingfield Feb. 26, and was accorded due respect at 7-2 in this fascinating renewal. Kept handy by Tom Marquand as Ryan Moore finally unlocked the abundant talent of the frustrating High Definition (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) with a no-nonsense front-running ride, he was at work turning for home and continued to graft all the way up the straight as Ballydoyle's 20-1 shot clung on at the head of affairs. The 2-1 joint-favourite Lord North was the first to crack inside the final furlong, but Alenquer kept digging in to deny the upset in the final stride and prevail by a neck. The other joint-favourite State of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) ended up the same margin away in third, in front of Lord North but never able to land a serious blow in an epic encounter of middle-distance heavyweights.

“We had hoped he had this in the tank and came here with barely an inch to find with the top horses–there were a couple of little things that didn't go our way in Dubai and we had valid excuses and this is testament to his attitude,” Marquand said after his first ride in Ireland. “At the two pole, I was more worried about Lord North than High Definition but there was a question mark about his stamina and in the end it was no mean task pegging back the runner-up. He really had to dig deep there and it is a stiff last furlong. It is wonderful for William Haggas and the team at home, because he is not the easiest.”

Alenquer may have entered the G3 Sandown Classic Trial last April a 25-1 shot, but he emerged to make a mockery of those odds by beating Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Lone Eagle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in what has come to represent one of those races that was foretelling a big story. Left out of the Derby mix, he was sent to Royal Ascot to garner the King Edward prior to missing the break and finishing a distant third to Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris in July. Again well adrift of a bigwig when six-lengths second to Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) in York's G1 Juddmonte International the next month, the bay was sent to the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe but wound up ninth after trying to force the issue from the front.

Having been dogged by testing ground for most of his 3-year-old campaign, Alenquer showed the kind of pace and strength that connections had always believed was there on his comeback when putting Lord North to the sword in the Winter Derby on Polytrack. Beaten only just over a length in the Sheema Classic racing on three plates, he had ideal conditions returning to Europe in this hot contest and ultimately again had too much stamina for the Gosdens' dual G1 Dubai Turf hero, too much pace for the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational, G1 Cox Plate and G1 Prix Ganay winner State of Rest and a smidgen more class on the day than the revitalised TDN Rising Star High Definition. Putting the performance in context, last year's winner Helvic Dream (Ire) (Power {GB}) was last, beaten over 11 lengths, while the 2021 runner-up Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) could only manage fifth.

William and Maureen Haggas are operating at a near 50% strike-rate at the moment and have now won nine black-type races since the previous Saturday when Baaeed (GB) took Newbury by storm. Maureen had the pleasure of representing Somerville Lodge and said, “He was ridden beautifully by Tom. He knows him really well and the horse is as hard as nails. The more you ask the more he gives. He's always been a nice horse, but he keeps surprising us a bit. I think ground is important and it is on the slow side here. He won over a mile and a half at Ascot last year, but his top-class form is over a mile and a quarter. I thought he had a hard enough race today, but looking at him there is not a bother on him.”

Alenquer, who was a super-find by Armando Duarte at only 80,000gns at the 2019 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1, further advertises the prowess of his late sire for whom he was the sixth group 1 winner. He is the second foal out of Wild Blossom (Ger) (Areion {Ger}), a half-sister to the Listed Junioren-Preis winner Wilder Wein (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) from a family replete with black-type winners. The third dam is the influential Waitotara (Ire) (Habitat), ancestress of Hong Kong's champion stayer Mr Medici (Ire) (Medicean {GB}), the G3 Prix Miesque winner and G1 Preis der Diana runner-up White Rose (Ger) (Platini {Ger}), the G2 EuropaChampionat winner Wild Side (Ger) (Sternkonig {Ire}) and her triple group-winning daughter Wild Coco (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}). Wild Blossom also has an unraced 3-year-old filly by Zarak (Fr), a 2-year-old colt by Galiway (GB) bought for €100,000 by Haras de Meautry at the 2020 Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale, and a yearling colt by The Grey Gatsby (Ire).

Sunday, The Curragh, Ireland
TATTERSALLS GOLD CUP-G1, €400,000, Curragh, 5-22, 4yo/up, 10f 110yT, 2:11.44, gd.
1–ALENQUER (FR), 131, c, 4, by Adlerflug (Ger)
     1st Dam: Wild Blossom (Ger), by Areion (Ger)
     2nd Dam: Wind In her Hair (Ger), by Turtle Island (Ire)
     3rd Dam: Waitotara (Ire), by Habitat
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (€18,000 Wlg '18 ARQDE; 80,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-M M Stables; B-Gestut Romerhof (FR); T-William Haggas; J-Tom Marquand. €240,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW & G1SP-Eng, G1SP-Fr, 10-5-2-1, $1,016,838. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–High Definition (Ire), 131, c, 4, Galileo (Ire)–Palace (Ire), by Fastnet Rock (Aus).
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-D Smith,Mrs J Magnier,M Tabor,Westerberg; B-Whisperview Trading Ltd (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. €80,000.
3–State of Rest (Ire), 131, c, 4, Starspangledbanner (Aus)–Repose, by Quiet American.
(45,000gns Wlg '18 TATFOA; 60,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-State of Rest Partnership; B-Tinnakill Bloodstock Ltd (IRE); T-Joseph O'Brien. €40,000.
Margins: NK, NK, 1 1/4. Odds: 3.50, 20.00, 2.00.
Also Ran: Lord North (Ire), Broome (Ire), Bear Story (Ire), Mac Swiney (Ire), Helvic Dream (Ire). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Will It Be Galileo Again?

There is something about Galileo (Ire) and the Curragh's hallowed strip of running ground that made such a perfect fit as his star rose inexorably throughout the last two decade or so and, while several of the track's signature races bear his name as sire, the G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas does so markedly. Six of the last 11 and the last three winners of the fillies' Classic all carried his stamp and, of course, they all hailed from the colony of class assembled at Rosegreen. Aidan O'Brien and Coolmore's great debt of gratitude for his gift can never be overstated and it is sure to keep giving for the immediate future. Now the world record-holder for delivering stakes winners, the matchless stallion of recent times continues to posthumously churn them out like days of the week. That brings us to the plainly-titled May 1 G1 1000 Guineas third Tuesday (Ire), who along with the more weightily-named May 8 G3 Cornelscourt S. winner History (Ire) on Sunday represent racing's supreme triangle of power as eager as ever to extend an already-astonishing Classic tally.

 

From The Same Hymnsheet

If there is one sire that can take up the baton from Galileo it is his own son Frankel (GB), who has already crowbarred his way into his sire's realm with a stellar 2021 that serves as an early threat to his dominion. In the Juddmonte colossus's 'TDN Rising Star' Homeless Songs (Ire), he has a filly that seems to be on the verge of something special and she has all the right connections in her corner. While her dynamic display in the seven-furlong G3 Ballylinch Stud 1000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown Apr. 2 would have tempted most into a crack at the Newmarket Classic on ground that may have set back her progression, Moyglare and Dermot Weld's deep pool of combined wisdom opted to keep her powder dry for this test.

“Her mother didn't go on firm ground, so we didn't go to Newmarket and France wasn't the right race either,” Moyglare's bloodstock advisor Fiona Craig explained. “It'll be interesting. If you look at the pedigree, we're hoping the Frankel influence will get her home over the mile. We won't know if she gets the mile until we run over it. I'd have no question about a mile around a turn, it's just that Curragh is a long mile, but this is where we are and at least we've had a bit of rain. She doesn't need soft ground, she just doesn't want it like a road.”

 

Strength In Depth

This is an excellent renewal with potentially more clout than the 1000 Guineas, with Aidan O'Brien also saddling the far-from-forlorn hope Concert Hall (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}); the outrageously in-form William Haggas stable flying in Lael Stable's Purplepay (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}); the similarly buoyant Joseph O'Brien yard represented by Scott Heider's indefatigable Agartha (Ire) (Caravaggio); and Paul Smith's unknown quantity Hermana Estrella (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). The latter, whose sole start came when the 50-1 winner of Naas's G3 Coolmore Stud Irish EBF Fillies Sprint S. last May, brings a bizarre but compelling profile into this baptism of fire under Jamie Spencer, whose career truly took off with the Irish 1000 Guineas victory of Tarascon (Ire) (Tirol {Ire}) when he was a 17-year-old apprentice in 1998.

 

Now You See Him

Assuming its natural position as chief supporting act to the Guineas is the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, which features the perennial bloomer Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), prone to popping up now and again to do something notable before disappearing from view once more. Flowering in the desert for the last two renewals of the G1 Dubai Turf, the Gosdens' 6-year-old has a spartan but impressive race record and Thady Gosden is hoping he can extend it here.

“It was a great performance to run as well as he did in Dubai. He has taken that well and had a little bit of time off after the journey,” the junior partner of the new Clarehaven training arrangement said. “He's been training well at home, it's obviously a tough race with State of Rest coming off the back of winning the Ganay. He's race-fit, whereas we've had a little bit of a break but the track should suit him and so will the ground at the moment. He's still very much enjoying his training and his racing and behaving as he ever did.”

 

In No Mood To Rest

Lord North's biggest problem is the presence of State of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), the son of this week's headline-making broodmare Repose who is on a winning streak that has taken in the exotic and varying tests of the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational, G1 Cox Plate and G1 Prix Ganay. The fact that Joseph O'Brien's proverbial globetrotter never wins by far makes him hard to pin down for now and this will tell us more. “All being well, he seems to have come through France in good shape and we are looking forward to the weekend,” his trainer said. “I was lucky enough to win the Tattersalls Gold Cup as a jockey on So You Think and it would very satisfying if we could win it with State of Rest. Ideal conditions are probably good or better, there is a bit of rain forecast but hopefully the ground doesn't get too soft.”

 

Girls Galore

Fillies and mares dominate the rest of Sunday's pattern-race action, with The Curragh's card also boasting the G2 Lanwades Stud S. where Haras de Saint Pair's G1 Matron S. and G1 Prix de la Foret runner-up Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) sets the standard threatened by the G3 Athasi S. winner Twilight Spinner (GB) (Twilight Son {GB}), another Scott Heider-Joseph O'Brien project. At Cologne, in the G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen, or German 2000 Guineas, Markus Klug takes the unusual step of pitching Gestut Karlshof's unbeaten filly Mylady (Ger) (The Grey Gatsby {Ire}) against the colts but as she has already bettered them in Krefeld's 8 1/2-furlong G3 Dr Busch-Memorial Apr. 24, why not again? Her biggest issue is the arrival of a William Haggas runner, with Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's similarly-unbeaten Maljoom (Ire) (Caravaggio) boasting smart form having beaten the useful yardstick Saga (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in a Kempton conditions event over this trip Apr. 18. Haggas won this in 2002 and 2004 and the insatiable form of the stable at present suggests he will be given due deference by the domestic contenders.

Click here for the group fields.

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Tattersalls Gold Cup Possibility For Insinuendo

Dual group winner Insinuendo (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), who won the G3 Blue Wind S. and G2 Kilboy Estate S. last term, is a possibility for the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at on May 22. The Deegan Racing Syndicate runner was second to Group 1 winner Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) in the G3 Park Express S. at The Curragh on Mar. 26.

Trainer Willie McCreery said, “It was her first run of the season and we were very happy with her. She came out of the race well and we're looking onwards and upwards.

“Ideally you'd have loved someone to have given her a lead the other day. She had to do all her own donkey work and it's hard to beat a genuine Group 1 filly making your own pace.

“The whole idea this year is to try and get her Group 1 placed and see where we are from there.

“I'm not sure where we'll go next–it depends on the ground really. The ground is after changing from soft to very good here in the last couple of weeks, so hopefully we get some Irish weather again.

“If we can get some cut in the ground that would open up more options. The Tattersalls Gold Cup is an option for her if the ground comes right for her, definitely.”

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Tattersalls Gold Cup Glory For Helvic Dream

Beaten three times by Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) already this term, Tom Hendron and Finbar Cahill's Helvic Dream (Ire) (Power {GB}) had been inching closer each time and chose the big occasion to turn it around as he denied that Ballydoyle rival in a thriller for the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup on Sunday. Benefitting from the heavily rain-eased going at The Curragh, the 4-year-old who emanates from the Noel Meade stable better known for its national hunt runners travelled smoothly on the inside in mid-division throughout the early stages. Filling the eye with Colin Keane motionless turning for home, the 8-1 shot had dead aim on the 10-11 favourite who had been committed by Ryan Moore approaching two out. Eventually asked to go and win his race, the gelding responded generously to overhaul Broome close home and prevail in a bobber by a short head, with a length back to the G3 Queen Elizabeth S. and Neom Turf Cup winner True Self (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) in third. “I've won plenty of group 1s over jumps and had a number of horses placed in Guineas and a fourth in the Epsom Derby, so this feels just fantastic,” Meade said. “I was afraid to even dream about it. It means a lot and I can die happy now! It's a shame nobody is here, because you'd want to be going to the champagne bar over there!”

Having beaten the future luminary Champers Elysees (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}) by 4 3/4 lengths in a heavy-ground Roscommon median auction race that has subsequently taken on a different dimension in September 2019, Helvic Dream was tried over too far before narrowly missing out on a first black-type win when third in a blanket to the Listed Vincent O'Brien Ruby S. over a mile at Killarney in August. Third in the valuable “Northfields” H. over 10 furlongs here on Irish Champions weekend in September, he bounced out of that to beat the useful Up Helly Aa (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) by 7 1/2 lengths in the G3 International S. again over 10 furlongs on soft at this venue in October. Only eighth when the 5-4 favourite for the Listed Trigo S. at Leopardstown later that month, he was again flat on his return when a distant eighth behind Broome in the Listed Devoy S. at Naas Mar. 28. Narrowing that to 3 1/2 lengths next time when fourth in this track's G3 Alleged S. Apr. 17, he was just two lengths in arrears when second in the May 3 G2 Mooresbridge S. here last time.

Colin Keane delivered a masterclass in waiting ride tactics and said, “He relishes that soft ground and although I wasn't too sure we'd beat Broome, I did think he'd get a little bit closer. I thought he'd run well at Naas [in the Devoy], but he really disappointed us for whatever reason and the last day I got to Ryan [Moore] and he took off again. I wanted to have one crack at him and ideally, I should have waited another couple of strides again today. He's not short of pace and when he has those conditions I'd have no fear coming back in trip.”

Meade has no immediate plans for Helvic Dream. “He's improving all the time and Gillian O'Brien needs special mention here, as she treated him with a Chinese system which releases all the muscles and lets them loosen up. Two days after she'd done him, he was absolutely dancing down the yard. He could realistically be a horse for the [G1] Champion Stakes at Ascot, as you often get slow ground there which suits him. We'll have to think about a mile as well.” Aidan O'Brien said of Broome, “We were delighted and we're going up in trip with him now, for either the [June 4 G1] Coronation Cup [at Epsom] or the [June 19 G2] Hardwicke [at Royal Ascot].”

Helvic Dream is the first foal out of the unraced Rachevie (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), whose only other to date is this month's G3 Irish 1000 Guineas Trial runner-up Flirting Bridge (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). The second dam Challow Hills (Woodman) is kin to the multiple stakes winner Teide (Mt. Livermore) from the family of the G1 Epsom Oaks, G1 Irish Oaks and G1 Yorkshire Oaks heroine Diminuendo (Diesis {GB}) and her Listed Pretty Polly S.-winning full-sister Pricket who was runner-up in that Epsom Classic. Diminuendo in turn produced the G3 May Hill S. winner and G1 Fillies' Mile runner-up Calando (Storm Cat), herself the dam of the Listed Chesham S. winner Champlain (GB) (Seeking the Gold) and the Listed Silken Glider S. scorer Calare (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

Sunday, Curragh, Ireland
TATTERSALLS GOLD CUP-G1, €300,000, Curragh, 5-23, 4yo/up, 10f 110yT, 2:21.11, s/h.
1–HELVIC DREAM (IRE), 131, g, 4, by Power (GB)
     1st Dam: Rachevie (Ire), by Danehill Dancer (Ire)
     2nd Dam: Challow Hills, by Woodman
     3rd Dam: Cascassi, by Nijinsky II
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (€4,000 RNA Wlg '17 TATFBR; €12,000 Ylg '18 TIRSEP). O-Mrs Caroline Hendron & Mrs M Cahill; B-T O'Dwyer & K O'Brien (IRE); T-Noel Meade; J-Colin Keane. €180,000. Lifetime Record: 15-4-2-5, $338,101. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Broome (Ire), 131, h, 5, Australia (GB)–Sweepstake (Ire), by Acclamation (GB). (€120,000 RNA Ylg '17 GOFOR; 150,000gns Ylg '17 TATDEY). O-Masaaki Matsushima, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-Epona Bloodstock Ltd (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. €60,000.
3–True Self (Ire), 128, m, 8, Oscar (Ire)–Good Thought (Ire), by Mukaddamah. O-Three Mile House & OTI Partnership; B-Mr Don Cantillon (IRE); T-Willie Mullins. €30,000.
Margins: NO, 1, 8. Odds: 8.00, 0.91, 25.00.
Also Ran: Cayenne Pepper (Ire), Search For a Song (Ire), Sunchart (GB), Serpentine (Ire), Tiger Moth (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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