Tag: State of Rest (Ire)

Bay Bridge At The Centre Of Wednesday’s Royal Ascot Action

   At the beginning of 2022, it would have taken an almighty leap of the imagination to envisage Sir Michael Stoute having one of the best years of his career but within the space of just over a month from mid-May it has become a reality. Quite what Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) can go on to achieve is anybody's guess and the non-believers are rightly in a minority where the Derby hero is concerned, but in Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) Newmarket's longstanding doyen has another to take to the world stage. Judged on his emphatic return success in the May 26 G3 Brigadier Gerard S., Sandown's key 10-furlong launchpad that the head of Freemason Lodge has harvested down the years, the 4-year-old who represents James Wigan and Ballylinch Stud is heading to the toppermost of the poppermost. Kept at a light simmer last term, the son of Ballylinch's rising star sire came violently to the boil last time. For Bay Bridge, read Mtoto (GB) or Pilsudski (Ire) or, more recently, Poet's Word (Ire) (Poet's Voice {GB}). He was that good. The G1 Prince Of Wales's S., a 'Win And You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf, is his first reckoning on Wednesday.

 

Is This The Breakthrough?

   Surprisingly, Japan is without a Royal Ascot winner and have fared no better than sixth from the eight that have tried to date, but that could have been so different six years ago when A Shin Hikari (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) went to post as the 8-13 favourite for this race only to falter and finish last. In a year where it feels like the tide has finally turned for the nation's fortunes on the international stage, it is another son of the late, great sire that comes forth this time in Shahryar (Jpn), Hideaki Fujiwara's G1 Tokyo Yushun and G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner. Yasuhiro Matsumoto, manager of Northern Farm, is full of hope. “As a horseman, I want to win races in the UK with Japanese horses,” he stated. “It is a dream and a real honour for us to have runners at Royal Ascot. Many people think the Arc is the pinnacle, but I think many of the best sire-making races are in the UK.”

 

The International Playground

It is a measure of how far this contest has come since it was shifted to Group 1 status in the millennium year that it contains winners of top-level prizes in Dubai, Japan, the States and Australia as well as France and Britain despite there being just five runners. The only one to prevail in this company on British soil is Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), whose success in the COVID Prince of Wales's two years ago was followed by an outright win and dead-heat for first in the last two renewals of the G1 Dubai Turf. He could be suited by a potentially tactical affair, which may not apply to State of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) who has a Cox Plate to boast of and at this stage is on a par with the 2011 winner of this race, So You Think (NZ). They met last time when State of Rest was a place ahead of Lord North in third in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh on May 22, but John Gosden believes there is the prospect of a reversal. “I think that he raced a bit too close to the strong pace at the Curragh and the one mile and two and a half furlongs there just stretched him a bit,” he explained. “He's a grand horse, but he needs to be ridden a little differently to Ireland.”

 

Back To Earth

In the G2 Duke of Cambridge S., last year's 1000 Guineas and G1 Prix Rothschild heroine Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) bids to provide Aidan O'Brien with a first edition and get on track again after misfiring when seventh in Newbury's G1 Lockinge S. May 14. On what could be a big day for New Bay, his daughter Saffron Beach (Ire) re-opposes the Ballydoyle stalwart having galloped her into submission in Newmarket's G1 Sun Chariot S. in October. There is also the unknown quantity that is Cheveley Park Stud's Bashkirova (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), who is here just 10 days after her G3 Princess Elizabeth S. win, and 'TDN Rising Star' Sibila Spain (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) who came of age last time when winning the G2 Prix du Muguet at Saint-Cloud May 8.

 

A Day Of Contrasts

   While the future stayers get their chance in the 14-furlong G2 Queen's Vase, the G2 Queen Mary S. and Listed Windsor Castle S. provide for the fast juveniles. Roger Varian has a live contender for the Vase in KHK Racing's unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), while Wesley Ward may have suffered a demoralising reversal on day one but in Stonestreet's sensational Keeneland winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Love Reigns (U S Navy Flag) he has the archetypal Queen Mary filly. Looking for a landmark fifth renewal, he is in reach of Fred Darling's record of seven winners of the five-furlong contest and if he keeps bringing radically fast types like this daughter of Coolmore's first-season sire he could even get there in this decade. “Every horse that kind of engaged her, she just exploded away from them,” Ward warned.

 

More Rising Stars

Another 'TDN Rising Star' in the Queen Mary is Clipper Logistics' impressive Newmarket maiden winner Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), who according to Karl Burke is in a league of her own as far as pace is concerned. “Her figures for her first run at Newmarket were pretty good and I'm adamant and convinced she's come on from that,” he said. “She's as quick as I've trained anyway, so we'll see.” Adding intrigue to the contest, there are a total of five others from the first crop of Havana Grey (GB), James Garfield (Ire) and Tasleet (GB) who had such a breakthrough moment on Tuesday. They include the Listed National S. winner Maria Branwell (Ire) by Rathbarry Stud's James Garfield and Havana Grey's Salisbury and Windsor winner Katey Kontent (GB), who looked special last time. In the Windsor Castle, Ballydoyle's 'TDN Rising Star' Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never) looks to hold the aces following his impressive Naas maiden success while the Roger Varian-trained Leicester novice scorer Bolt Action (Ire) (Kessaar {Ire}) is one of the more intriguing home-trained contenders.

Click here for the group fields.

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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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State of Rest Pounces For Ganay Triumph

Joseph O'Brien trainee State of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) enjoyed a fruitful sophomore campaign last year and the 4-year-old's globetrotting exploits yielded wins in August's GI Saratoga Derby Invitational and October's G1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley. He was sent postward as a 63-10 chance for Sunday's G1 Prix Ganay at ParisLongchamp and produced a battling display to secure a third elite-level triumph in the 10 1/2-furlong highlight. Third in the G2 Champagne S. and fifth in the G1 Futurity as a juvenile, he also hit the board in last year's Listed Celebration S. at The Curragh. The eventual winner was well away from the outside gate and tracked the pace in a handy fourth for the most part. Looming large on the bridle with 500 metres remaining, he came under pressure to gain a narrow advantage approaching the final furlong and was driven out in the closing stages to deny G2 Prix Eugene Adam and G3 Prix Exbury victor Pretty Tiger (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) by 3/4-of-a-length in game fashion.

“He's a very good horse, I'm pleased with his performance and delighted for all the team at home,” commented trainer Joseph O'Brien. “He came here in good nick and we were taking on some really good horses, but I wasn't sure how our form tied up with them. I thought he did well to win because the race didn't set up to suit him. He was caught a bit wide from that [outside] draw, but Shane [Crosse] gave him a great ride. Our main objective for this season was to win a Group 1 in Europe and we'll now look at the [G1] Tattersalls Gold Cup back in Ireland. It's very exciting to have him in the yard and there's a pretty clear path for these 10-furlong horses through the summer. The [G1] Prince of Wales's S. [at Royal Ascot] is an obvious option and, now that he's owned by an Australian syndicate, he could very well return to race in Australia at the end of the season.”

“He lost second by so little because fast ground is not ideal, but I think this confirms he is a genuine Group 1 horse,” said Haras de la Gousserie's Kamel Chehboub after Sealiway was nailed on the line for second. “Good-to-soft would have been better so I think we will pass on the [G1] Prince of Wales's S. [at Royal Ascot] and wait for the [G1] Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. We'll then give him a break until the autumn.”

Reflecting on the performance of defeated 9-10 favourite Skalleti (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}), trainer Jerome Reynier said, “The ground was probably too firm for him. He won the Ispahan on similar ground, but the field was stronger today and Maxime [Guyon] said he was never travelling well. We had to be sporting, he is seven and if you don't try the challenge now when will you? I hope he comes out of the race well and that I don't regret my decision to run him.”

State of Rest is the second of four foals bred from the unraced Repose (Quiet American), whose own dam Monaassabaat (Zilzal) annexed the Listed Tattersalls Virginia S. and produced Listed Milcars Star S. victrix and G3 May Hill S. runner-up Echo River (Irish River {Fr}) as well as Listed Churchill S. victor Prince Alzain (Street Sense). His third dam is dual GI Vanity H.-winning champion It's In The Air (Mr. Prospector), herself the dam of G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte victrix Bitooh (GB) (Seattle Slew) and Listed Honeymoon H. victor Air Dancer (Northern Dancer). Descendants of It's In The Air also include MG1SW sire Storming Home (GB) (Machiavellian), GI American Oaks heroine Music Note (A.P. Indy), Music Note's G1 Dubai World Cup-winning son Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper), G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Musical Chimes (In Excess {Ire}) and Saturday's Listed Kilvington Fillies' S. victrix Umm Kulthum (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). State of Rest is kin to Listed Silver Flash S. runner-up Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and the hitherto unraced 2-year-old filly Double Scoop (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}).

Sunday, ParisLongchamp, France
PRIX GANAY-G1, €300,000, ParisLongchamp, 5-1, 4yo/up, 10 1/2fT, 2:08.46, g/s.
1–STATE OF REST (IRE), 128, c, 4, by Starspangledbanner (Aus)
1st Dam: Repose, by Quiet American
2nd Dam: Monaassabaat, by Zilzal
3rd Dam: It's In The Air, by Mr. Prospector
(45,000gns Wlg '18 TATFOA). O-State of Rest Partnership; B-Tinnakill Bloodstock Ltd; T-Joseph O'Brien; J-Shane Crosse. €171,420. Lifetime Record: GISW-US, G1SW-Aus, GSP-Eng & SP-Ire, 10-4-1-2, €2,577,734. *1/2 to Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}), SP-Ire. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Pretty Tiger (Ire), 128, c, 4, Sea The Moon (Ger)–Fast and Pretty (Ire), by Zamindar. (€105,000 Ylg '19 ARAUG). O-Bernard Giraudon & Ecuries Serge Stempniak; B-Chevotel de la Hauquerie (IRE); T-Pia & Joakim Brandt. €68,580.
3–Sealiway (Fr), 128, c, 4, Galiway (GB)–Kensea (Fr), by Kendargent (Fr). (€62,000 Ylg '19 ARAUG). O-Le Haras de la Gousserie & Guy Pariente; B-Guy Pariente Holding (FR); T-Francis-Henri Graffard. €34,290.
Margins: 3/4, SHD, 1 1/4. Odds: 6.30, 12.00, 3.50.
Also Ran: Mare Australis (Ire), Skalleti (Fr), Smile Makers (Fr). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by TVG.

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