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Malibu Moon’s Valiant Force Provides Amo’s First Royal Winner In The Norfolk

All the talk before Thursday's G2 Norfolk S. centred around American Rascal (Curlin) and Elite Status (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), but it was the 150-1 shot Valiant Force (Malibu Moon–Vigui's Heart, by Quality Road) who held sway to provide Amo Racing with a breakthrough first Royal Ascot winner. Runner-up to His Majesty (Ire) (No Nay Never) on debut in the Listed First Flier S., the Adrian Murray-trained $100,000 Keeneland September yearling was discounted by the betting public due to his latest fifth despite having excuses in the G3 Marble Hill S. Dominating the far-side group under Rossa Ryan, he veered left late on but hit the line with 1 1/4 lengths to spare over Malc (GB) (Calyx {GB}), with the 7-4 favourite Elite Status half a length behind in third.

 

As it turned out, the Marble Hill was the race to concentrate on ahead of this much-anticipated renewal with The Curragh's staging post featuring not only the winner but also Ballydoyle's His Majesty, who had been involved in a three-way go in that six-furlong contest. Left stranded on his own up the centre of the track on that day as the remainder crossed towards the stands' side, Valiant Force was still in front a furlong from the finish and had quicker ground as well as company to aid his cause this time. His Majesty was clear of the disadvantaged stands'-side pack here in fourth, becoming the fourth Ballydoyle juvenile to represent the stable with major credit this week.

Kia Joorabchian owns the winner alongside Rachael O'Callaghan and Giselle De Aguiar and said, “We've been trying for a long time and we kept getting beaten, but kept getting up. I'm just delighted for these guys. We've loved this horse all the time and he was on his own last time at The Curragh, so we knew he could do it.”

Adrian Murray, who hit the board in Tuesday's juvenile feature, added, “We knew he was a nice horse and we couldn't believe the price. He was only beaten half a length by His Majesty first time out and he was 150-1 today, it just didn't make sense! I knew he was much better than that. We were third here in the Coventry Stakes on Tuesday and I wondered if that would ever happen again. It's the stuff of dreams. It's great for the small man.”

Malc's trainer Richard Fahey was almost completing a third consecutive success in this race and commented, “Coming here I thought I had a real nice bunch of two-year-olds, but the way the others had run I couldn't be confident. Today everything did go right, he sticks his head down and he has a go. To be honest we think he's a six-furlong horse, but at Ascot you almost want a six-furlong horse over five. In the mid-part of the race, I'm not saying that's where we lost it, but he got a little outpaced and the winner got first run.”

Karl Burke said of the beaten favourite, “A furlong out I thought we might catch the leader, but he just couldn't get there. The Prix Morny was always our target before today. I'll go and have a word with Sheikh Obaid, but I imagine we'll step him up to six. He's not the finished article yet, but he's a lovely horse.”

Pedigree Notes
The winner is the first foal out of the unraced dam Vigui's Heart, a daughter of the triple stakes scorer Blue Heart (Exchange Rate) and half to the GIII With Anticipation S. third Joyful Heart (Kitten's Joy). Blue Heart is kin to four other stakes performers including the dam of the GIII Gulfstream Park Sprint S. winner C. Zee (Elusive Bluff). Also connected to the triple graded-stakes place-getter Katie Baby (Curlin), Vigui's Heart's filly foal is by Mitole.

 

Thursday, Royal Ascot, Britain
NORFOLK S.-G2, £110,000, Ascot, 6-22, 2yo, 5fT, :59.75, g/f.
1–VALIANT FORCE, 129, c, 2, by Malibu Moon
1st Dam: Vigui's Heart, by Quality Road
2nd Dam: Blue Heart, by Exchange Rate
3rd Dam: Flawless Diamond, by Saint Ballado
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. ($75,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $100,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Amo Racing, Mrs R O'Callaghan & G De Aguiar; B-Ramon Horta Rangel & Spendthrift Farm (KY); T-Adrian Murray; J-Rossa Ryan. £62,381. Lifetime Record: SP-Ire, 3-1-1-0, $89,328. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Malc (GB), 129, c, 2, Calyx (GB)–Bereka (GB), by Firebreak (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (34,000gns Ylg '22 TATSOM; 140,000gns 2yo '23 TATBRE). O-Middleham Park Racing LXVI; B-Bearstone Stud (GB); T-Richard Fahey. £23,650.
3–Elite Status (GB), 129, c, 2, Havana Grey (GB)–Dotted Swiss (Ire), by Swiss Spirit (GB). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (56,000gns Wlg '21 TADEWE; 325,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum; B-Whitsbury Manor Stud (GB); T-Karl Burke. £11,836.
Margins: 1 1/4, HF, 3/4. Odds: 150.00, 66.00, 1.75.
Also Ran: His Majesty (Ire), Thunder Blue (GB), Devious (GB), Reveiller (Ire), Mon Na Slieve (Ire), No Nay Mets (Ire), The Fixer (Ire), Toca Madera (Ire), Shayekh (Ire), American Rascal, Noche Magica (Ire). Scratched: Baheer (Ire), Hala Emaraaty (Ire).

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Yulong Named The New Sponsor For The Pretty Polly

Yulong will sponsor the G1 Pretty Polly S. at the Curragh in 2023, the racecourse announced on Thursday.

Scheduled for Saturday, July 1, the second day of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festival, the race–restricted to fillies and mares–will now be worth €300,000. Owned by Yuesheng Zhang, Yulong will also present a free nomination for 2024 to juvenile Group 1 winner Lucky Vega (Ire) to the owners of the first three placed horses.

Sam Fairgray, COO Yulong Investments said, “Following on from Yulong Stud's involvement in Ireland with Lucky Vega, we are extremely happy to support the Irish racing and breeding industry and look forward to many years of collaboration ahead.”

Zhang's green and white colours have been carried to victory at the Curragh by Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Irish Oaks in 2022, as well as by current Irish National Stud stallion Lucky Vega, who won the 2020 G1 Phoenix S.

Evan Arkwright, Racing and Sponsorship Manager the Curragh said, “We are very grateful to Mr. Zhang for selecting the Curragh for his first sponsorship in Ireland and appreciate his support of one of the most prestigious races in the Irish racing calendar. The association will further highlight the leading position that Yulong plays on the world's racing stage.”

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Ronan McNally Loses Appeal, 12-year Suspension Cut Back

Trainer Ronan McNally lost his appeal against his disqualification for breaching racing's integrity rules, however, was granted a four-year reprieve from his original record 12-year suspension.

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) published the verdict of an appeals body panel Wednesday evening. The panel was chaired by Justice Peter Kelly. The suspension of the final four years of the disqualification is contingent on adhering to the rules, a breach of which would reinstate the full sentence.

McNally's penalties-including the 12-year suspension, charges of €50,000 and the return of €13,000 in prize-money-were handed down in January, and the following month, he announced that he had formally appealed the Board's findings. The appeals panel convened last month to consider McNally's appeal against the sanctions handed to the trainer in late January by the referrals committee and later dismissed McNally's appeal against the findings of the committee.

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Talking Points: Keane Off The Mark At Ascot – But He Deserves More Big-Race Rides

Hard to believe that Colin Keane was 0-50 at Ascot before booting Villanova Queen (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) home to record an emotional victory for Jessica Harrington in the Kensington Palace Fillies' Handicap.

Anyone with even a passing interest in Irish racing will know that Keane is right up there with the best riders in Europe and his royal winner was long overdue. 

Of course, it came in rather fortuitous circumstances, with Keane deputising for Harrington's number one rider Shane Foley, who was cruelly ruled out for six weeks after breaking his collarbone at Gowran Park.

Many will point to the fact that Keane came in for the winning ride on Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Irish Derby last year and Dermot Weld called on his services for Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) in the Breeders' Cup Turf in 2020.

But the point remains, Keane is a top-drawer rider and one that is deserving of more opportunities to showcase his talents on the international stage like the previous Irish champion jockeys did before him. 

Victory aboard Villanova Queen could serve as a reminder of that fact. 

Tudhope Hardens Tremendous Ascot Record

Danny Tudhope has had no such problems with finding the back of the net at Ascot. In fact, this is the meeting where he has enjoyed some of his best days in the saddle. 

Think Lord Glitters (Fr) (Whipper) storming to Queen Anne success at massive odds, Holloway Boy (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) flashing home in the Chesham and Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) scooting clear in the Queen Mary. Tudhope has a lot of fine memories from this meeting.

He also won the Duke Of Cambridge S. in 2019 aboard Move Swiftly (GB) (Farhh {GB}) and doubled his tally of wins in the Group 2 contest on Tuesday when delivering Rogue Millennium (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) at exactly the right time to win by just a neck. 

That success brought Tudhope's record at Ascot to 23-231 and hardened his reputation as being a master of his craft on the straight course. 

Appleby Proves He's Not Just A Sand Artist

Mick Appleby told TDN Europe back in January how, in many ways, that he had become a victim of his own success on the all-weather and that he'd love to train more two-year-old runners. 

The trainer proved on Wednesday that, given the raw material, he can do the business with juveniles by sending out Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) to win the Windsor Castle. 

One of the best all-weather trainers in the business, Appleby has gone some way to demonstrating that he is just as good on turf through his handling of progressive sprinter Raasel (GB) (Showcasing) and now Big Evs. 

Indeed, Big Evs will also go down as a noteworthy first Royal Ascot winner for Blue Point, the first of the freshman sires to achieve such a feat this week. 

Two Things To Take From The Prince Of Wales's Stakes

Few would have seen Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) winning the Prince Of Wales's S before the race was run. Fewer still would have predicted the style in which it would be achieved. 

Regardless, there didn't appear to be any fluke about the victory, with the John and Thady Gosden-trained runner quickening up off a steady pace and rounding the field as if they were stationary. 

He looks a very smart performer over 10 furlongs, which he proved in Riyadh earlier this year before coming up short behind a global superstar in Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) when upped to 1m4f in the Dubai Sheema Classic. 

There were a couple of things to take from Wednesday's race; Equinox is probably the best horse in the world right now and Mostahdaf won't be underestimated in the Juddmonte International.

American Winner An Important One 

International competition is what underpins the royal meeting. That's what made the result of the opening Queen Mary such an important one with the American raider Crimson Advocate (Nyquist) hanging on to land a pulsating renewal. 

That brought American-trained runners' tally of winners at Royal Ascot to 14. A whopping 12 of those have been trained by Wesley Ward, who is incidentally without a winner since Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) in the 2021 Commonwealth Cup. 

The international runners at Ascot are what the Irish runners are to Cheltenham. It's what makes the meeting so special. Without your Australian sprinters and razor-sharp American-bred juveniles, the meeting would not boast the same lustre. 

As a result, Ascot deserves a lot of credit for being proactive in recruiting runners from all over the world. George Weaver's Crimson Advocate won her qualifying race for Royal Ascot at Gulfstream back in May and such an initiative has proved a roaring success. 

Connections of Relief Rally (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), beaten just a nose by the American raider on Wednesday, may not agree, but Crimson Advocate's success was an important one as it served to further broaden the appeal of one of the most special race meetings in the world. 

Need For Minimum Ratings

That brings us onto Steven Seagull (GB) (War Command). Royal Ascot is supposed to be about bringing the best horses and people the world has to offer and pitching them against each other for one brilliant week of racing. 

So what was the 46-rated Steven Seagull doing running in the Queen's Vase? We had a similar situation a few years back when the 54-rated My Lucky Penny was allowed to run in the 2020 Irish 1,000 Guineas and duly tailed off at odds of 400-1.

Connections didn't even have an excuse of a day out on that occasion given the race took place behind closed doors due to Covid. 

These lowly-rated horses have their place, of course they do, but it's not on the biggest of stages where their participation could do more harm than good. Minimum ratings would serve to eliminate such needless worries going forward.

 

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