Glass Slippers (GB) | Horse Racing Free Tips

Breeders’ Cup Champs Next Starts Announced

Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead), the winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland last November, will head straight to Royal Ascot for her 2021 debut, the G2 Temple S. at Haydock having been ruled out. Both the G1 King's Stand S. and the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. are options for the 2020 G1 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five S. heroine.

“We're skipping the Temple S.,” trainer Kevin Ryan said. “We'll go straight to Ascot, or at least that's the plan. She's in both races and we'll decide a bit closer to the time which to go for.”

“We'll worry about that [the Breeders' Cup] when we get to the end of the year,” he added. “We'll think about her targets in Europe first, but she's in great nick at home.”

Another 2020 Breeders' Cup victress who will return to action even sooner than Glass Slippers is GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). The bay also saluted in the G1 Darley Prix Jean Romanet last August for trainer James Fanshawe, who revealed that the G2 Prix Corrida on May 26th was the likely next start for the 5-year-old.

Fanshawe said, “She's in good form and I'm hoping to start her off next week, she's got a couple of options. She's in the Prix Corrida at Saint-Cloud and she has a couple of other entries as well.”

Later in the season, the mare is also entered in Royal Ascot's G1 Prince of Wales's S. and the G1 Pretty Polly S. at The Curragh and the G1 Coral-Eclipse with the Breeders' Cup on the horizon, too.

He added, “The race next week is for fillies and mares only and the conditions are good. There are good races across the country, but we'll get this one out of the way first.

“She's won two Group 1 races against her own sex. So we'll see how we get on and see whether we can take on the colts at some stage.”

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Glass Slippers Returns in Temple S.

Multiple Group 1 winner Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead) will make her first start of 2021 in the G2 Casumo Temple S. at Haydock on May 22. A winner of the 2019 G1 Prix de l'Abbaye, the 5-year-old mare added the G1 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five S. at The Curragh last September and, second in the 2020 l'Abbaye, signed off with a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint for owner/breeder Bearstone Stud and trainer Kevin Ryan.

“The plan is to start her off in the Temple S. prior to going to Royal Ascot,” Ryan said. “Although this is her first run of the year she is in great form. Anything she does at Haydock she will improve for it, but it is a good starting point. Haydock is a good galloping track and we are very much looking forward to getting her going there.

“She had a fantastic time last year, though it is always in the back of your mind that she is better in the second half of the season. Whether that is going to be different this year I don't know, but we are very fortunate to have her back in training again this year as she is an exceptional mare.”

“Retirement is always something that is always going to be there after what she has done. She is a homebred filly and they [Bearstone Stud Limited] have been breeding horses for a long time. They wanted to have another season racing with her which is very sporting as she is still plenty young enough to breed plenty of foals later on.”

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Moment of 2020: European Success at the Breeders’ Cup

In Moment of 2020, the staff of TDN Europe reflect on their favourite moments in racing for the year.

The Breeders’ Cup is always a meeting that I particularly enjoy; it is a time when my keen interests in both European and American racing come together. The Breeders’ Cup always involves some incredible clashes of the continents, and it is the most international meeting when you consider participation and the gravity that both sides place on it.

The 2020 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland included a remarkably strong European presence, with seven of the 13 trainers that sent horses across the Atlantic having their first runners at the meeting. After eight months of relative isolation in Lexington, where I am based, it was fantastic to get out to Keeneland in the mornings ahead the Breeders’ Cup and catch up with some of these connections, all of whom were excited and enthusiastic about the opportunity.

There were a few promising performances on the Friday-I’m thinking of Ubettabelieveit (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) blowing the break in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and then riding the rail under a sterling ride from young jockey Rowan Scott to get up for third; a remarkable effort from both horse and rider. But things really came together on the Saturday, when Team Europe took each of the four races in which it had runners, with three of them going to those aforementioned rookie trainers as well as riders having their first wins at the meeting.

First up was the likeable sprinting mare Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead), who made it a perfect start at the Breeders’ Cup for trainer Kevin Ryan, jockey Tom Eaves and her small owner/breeders Terry and Margaret Holdcroft of Bearstone Stud when splitting rivals late to get up for a mild upset in the GI Turf Sprint.

Next up was the French mare Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who struck at big odds in the GI Filly & Mare Turf to provide a popular victory for veteran Newmarket trainer James Fanshawe, who was sending out his first Breeders’ Cup starter. It was also a first win at the meeting for young French star Pierre-Charles Boudot, who remarkably won the GI Mile two races later aboard the Aidan O’Brien-trained Order Of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}), both of which were pick-up mounts from riders that had been ruled out of the meeting by COVID-19. O’Brien, of course, is no stranger to Breeders’ Cup success, but it was somewhat surprising that this was his first win in the Mile. Even more remarkable was the fact that Order Of Australia-the longest shot on the board at 73-1–led home a trifecta for his great trainer, but none of the three runners was below 10-1.

Boudot wasn’t the only rider at the meeting to benefit from the COVID-induced absence of another. The Dermot Weld-trained Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) was, like Order Of Australia, slated to be ridden by Christophe Soumillon, but when he returned a positive test to the virus it was Colin Keane who stepped into his boots to provide the globetrotting trainer Weld with a popular first Breeders’ Cup score in the Aga Khan’s colours. There was a sobering undertone to the result, though; it was lost on few that under different circumstances that would have been the mount of Pat Smullen, who was tragically lost to pancreatic cancer in September at just 43 years of age.

The Breeders’ Cup rarely disappoints, but I particularly enjoyed the 2020 edition as a welcome distraction for a few days from the hardships of the year and as an occasion to celebrate some deserved debut victories at the meeting.

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Flying Five Glory For Dream Ahead’s Glass Slippers

It was all about the fillies and mares in Sunday’s G1 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five at The Curragh, with last year’s G1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp heroine Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead) prevailing after a tussle with compatriot Keep Busy (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}). Last seen finishing second to Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in Goodwood’s G2 King George S. July 31, the Bearstone Stud homebred was in touch against the far rail but under the pump at halfway. Rallying gamely to wear down Keep Busy in the last 100 yards, the 9-2 shot answered Tom Eaves’s every call to score by half a length, with the same margin separating her and the Irish filly Sonaiyla (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). In perfect symmetry, there was also that distance to the mare Maid In India (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}) in fourth as the distaffers dominated. “Kevin [Ryan] was very happy with her and this had always been the plan, as she takes time to warm into the season and comes good at this time of year,” the winning rider said. “It’s paid off and she’s an amazing filly who was spot-on for today. She found a few pounds and kept improving from the middle of the year last year and has thrived again. You can do anything with her, she is so relaxed and has a great mind and is very tough. They went a good pace and I had to squeeze at halfway, but I knew she’d come home as she stays well.”

Whatever is in the air in the North of England, it seems to aid the development of top-class sprinting fillies and mares and despite the disappointments of Que Amoro (Ire) (Es Que Love {Ire}) and Liberty Beach (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}) here, it is notable that the first, second and fourth are trained by Kevin Ryan, John Quinn and Eric Alston respectively. Glass Slippers was winning the G3 Qatar Prix du Petit Couvert at ParisLongchamp on this day last year, coming alive after a lethargic first half of the race to back up her breakthrough win in Deauville’s Listed Prix Moonlight Cloud. When she went to the Abbaye, she was a different proposition as she took early control and galloped relentlessly clear for an authoritative three-length success.

No match for Battaash in his own backyard at Goodwood, she will meet him again on the first Sunday in October according to Ryan. “She has a lot of class and loves it when they go really quick, but the ground was tacky today so she’s done well to cope with that,” commented her trainer, who was forced to watch from home. “Darren Bunyan has done a marvellous job with her the last 48 hours, it’s not easy handing it over to someone else, but he’s produced her in tip-top shape so I’m very thankful to the Curragh and Darren. It was [Bearstone Stud’s] Terry Holdcroft’s decision to miss the Nunthorpe and give her a bit more time and he’s obviously been vindicated. She’s an amazing filly, so simple to train and makes my job very easy. She’ll go back for the Abbaye now.”

Glass Slippers is the last living foal and second black-type winner out of Night Gypsy (GB) (Mind Games {GB}) following the Listed Radley S. scorer and G3 Oh So Sharp S. runner-up Electric Feel (GB) (Firebreak {GB}). The dam is a full-sister to the Listed Hilary Needler Trophy winner and stakes producer On the Brink (GB) and a half to Eastern Romance (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) who also achieved black-type success in France in the Listed Criterium de Vitesse and was runner-up in the G3 Ballyogan S.

Sunday, Curragh, Ireland
DERRINSTOWN STUD FLYING FIVE S.-G1, €250,000, Curragh, 9-13, 3yo/up, 5fT, 1:00.58, gd.
1–GLASS SLIPPERS (GB), 129, f, 4, by Dream Ahead
1st Dam: Night Gypsy (GB), by Mind Games (GB)
2nd Dam: Ocean Grove (Ire), by Fairy King
3rd Dam: Leyete Gulf (Ire), by Slip Anchor (GB)
O/B-Bearstone Stud Ltd (GB); T-Kevin Ryan; J-Tom Eaves. €150,000. Lifetime Record: Hwt. Older Mare-Fr at 5-7f, G1SW-Fr & GSP-Eng, 15-6-2-1, $550,517. *1/2 to Electric Feel (GB) (Firebreak {GB}), SW & GSP-Eng; and Aunt Nicola (GB) (Reel Buddy), SP-Eng. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Keep Busy (Ire), 128, f, 3, Night of Thunder (Ire)–Look Busy (Ire), by Danetime (Ire). (34,000gns Ylg ’18 TAOCT). O-Mrs Doreen Tabor; B-Hackcanter Ltd & P Gleeson (IRE); T-John Quinn. €50,000.
3–Sonaiyla (Ire), 129, f, 4, Dark Angel (Ire)–Sinaniya, by More Than Ready. (€110,000 3yo ’19 GOFNOV). O-H H The Aga Khan; B-H H The Aga Khan’s Studs SC (IRE); T-Paddy Twomey. €25,000.
Margins: HF, HF, HF. Odds: 4.50, 18.00, 11.00.
Also Ran: Maid In India (Ire), Make A Challenge (Ire), Equilateral (GB), Liberty Beach (GB), Kurious (GB), Silver Spear (Ire), Rapid Reaction (Ire), You’resobeautiful (Ire), Que Amoro (Ire), Alligator Alley (GB), A’Ali (Ire). Scratched: Na Blianta Beo (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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