Tag: Thunder Kiss (Ire)

Sea The Stars’s Emily Upjohn Dominates The Fillies & Mares

Nursed back from a deflating heavy defeat in the King George by John and Thady Gosden, TDN Rising Star Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) returned to Ascot's same mile and a half with a flourish to capture Saturday's G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares S. and complete a Frankie Dettori double on QIPCO British Champions Day.

Keen initially as she had been last time, the newly-hooded bay was restrained to race halfway down the field trapped wide throughout the early stages. Travelling strongly on the turn into the straight, the 3-1 favourite, who was sporting the Lloyd Webber silks, took command passing two out and was soon clear and in control.

At the line, she had three lengths to spare over the 50-1 shot Thunder Kiss (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), with the 80-1 shot Insinuendo (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) a further half-length away in third as the Irish contingent performed with credit.

“It would have been heartbreaking not winning a Group 1 with this filly,” Dettori said. “Nothing went right at Epsom and she ran no race in the King George for whatever reason, but the team have done a great job with her and she had given me the 'wow factor' again in her last pieces of work.”

Prior to her no-show in this track's midsummer showcase, Emily Upjohn had looked one of the better middle-distance fillies of recent times with comparisons to her stable's Taghrooda (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) not out of place. Her slim defeat by Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Oaks came after she had blown the start, having powered to ante-post favouritism in York's G3 Musidora S. at the May Dante meeting and this was her rolling back the clock to that moment.

Pulling too hard in the King George, she looked to be potentially over-racing again in the first two furlongs but those fears were ultimately put to bed as she tanked around the final bend with most of her rivals at work.

“We were all very nervous, but we knew she had it in her,” Lady Lloyd Webber said. “Frankie rode a peach of a race, we're very lucky to have him.”

John Gosden added, “I will never work out the King George as long as I live. The whole team have done a great job to get her confidence back, that's the thing as when you run a race like that and finish a distance last you're going to be a little shaken mentally. She is a big girl and hasn't fully strengthened in her frame. She is still quite light and I thought 'will she handle the ground?', but she's handled it well. Mind you, she was so wide she was probably on fresh ground. She stays in training and the aims next year will be the King George and the Arc.”

Shane Lyons said of Thunder Kiss, “She has been retired now, so her last run was her best run. The conditions suited her–ease in the ground, a mile and a half and a good pace. I thought she'd be in the mix somewhere, because these type of races suit her. The better the race, the better she runs. Maybe we should have run her in more Group 1 races, but anyway she has been a star for us, very consistent.”

Insinuendo's rider Gary Carroll said, “I had a lovely position–I had Frankie on my outside and he stole first run on me and his filly was the better on the day, but my filly ran her heart out. We are delighted.”

 

Pedigree Notes

Emily Upjohn, who was snapped up by Blandford Bloodstock for a remarkable 60,000gns at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2, is a granddaughter of The Aga Khan's Hazaradjat (Ire) (Darshaan (GB) who boasts an abundance of top-class descendants. Her progeny list is headed by Hazarista (Ire), a full-sister to Emily Upjohn's listed-placed dam Hidden Brief (GB) (Barathea {Ire}) who captured the G3 Blue Wind S. and was third in the G1 Irish Oaks and G1 Yorkshire Oaks. Her G3 Athasi S.-winning half-sister Hazariya (Ire) (Xaar {GB}) was the other black-type scorer out of Hazaradjat and she provided her owner-breeder with the Derby and Irish Derby hero Harzand (Ire) by Emily Upjohn's sire Sea The Stars, as well as three other notables including including the G1 Moyglare Stud S. third Harasiya (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) and the Listed Finale S. winner Hazarafa (Ire) (Daylami {Ire}) who in turn produced the G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial and G3 Amethyst S. scorer Hazapour (Ire) (Shamardal).

Emily Upjohn becomes the second QIPCO British Champions Day winner for the family after the G1 Fillies & Mares S. heroine Seal of Approval (GB) (Authorized {Ire}), a half to the dam of last year's G1 Irish Derby, G1 St Leger S. and G1 Grand Prix de Paris hero Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Also related to the group scorers Hunaina (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), Swashbuckling (Ire) (Raven's Pass), Vadream (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}) and Hamariyna (Ire) by Sea The Stars's son Sea The Moon (Ger), Hidden Brief's yearling daughter of Cappella Sansevero (GB) is named Hidden Jewel (Ire).

 

Saturday, Ascot, Britain
QIPCO BRITISH CHAMPIONS FILLIES & MARES S.-G1, £500,000, Ascot, 10-15, 3yo/up, f/m, 11f 211yT, 2:33.76, g/s.
1–EMILY UPJOHN (GB), 127, f, 3, by Sea The Stars (Ire)
                1st Dam: Hidden Brief (GB) (SP-Fr), by Barathea (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Hazaradjat (Ire), by Darshaan (GB)
                3rd Dam: Hazy Idea, by Hethersett (GB)
   1ST GROUP 1 WIN. 'TDN Rising Star'. (60,000gns Ylg '20
TATOCT). O-Lloyd Webber, Tactful Finance, S Roden;
B-Lordship Stud & Sunderland Holding Inc (GB); T-John &
Thady Gosden; J-Frankie Dettori. £283,550. Lifetime Record:
6-4-1-0, $586,117. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or click for the
   free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Thunder Kiss (Ire), 133, m, 5, Night Of Thunder (Ire)–Desert
Snow (GB) (MSP-Eng), by Teofilo (Ire). O-Newtown Anner Stud
Farm; B-Newtown Anner Stud (IRE); T-Ger Lyons. £107,500.
3–Insinuendo (Ire), 133, m, 5, Gleneagles (Ire)–Obama Rule
(Ire) (GSW-Ire), by Danehill Dancer (Ire). 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK
   TYPE. (€110,000 Ylg '18 GOFOR). O-Deegan Racing Syndicate;
B-Mount Armstrong Stud. (IRE); T-Willie McCreery. £53,800.
Margins: 3, HF, HF. Odds: 3.00, 50.00, 80.00.
Also Ran: Eshaada (GB), Rosscarbery (Ger), Emily Dickinson (Ire), Lilac Road (Ire), Albaflora (GB), Verry Elleegant (NZ), Sea La Rosa (Ire), Sweet Lady (Fr), Mimikyu (GB), Eternal Pearl (GB), Stay Alert (GB). VIDEO.

 

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All Is Well At York As Dante Leads Thursday’s Card

It's May, it's sunny, it's the Dante meeting in the county of England known as “God's Own Country” and we have a Sir Michael Stoute Derby plunge horse about to appear. While the kingpin of Newmarket is still prepared to train racehorses, there will continue to be moments like these and this time the bearer of the Freemason Lodge standard is the unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in Thursday's G2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante S. Bred at Gary Robinson's Teversham-based Strawberry Fields Stud, Saeed Suhail's 280,000gns Book 2 purchase looked a real prospect when winning the extended mile maiden at Nottingham in November won in recent times by Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) and Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). At 11-1 that day, it is safe to say the bay exceeded expectations but there will be far less mileage in his odds here after all the hullabaloo which has surrounded him of late. Stoute, who has the chance to equal the record of seven Dante winners set by his friend and rival, the late Sir Henry Cecil, has spoken of a setback which ruled out an earlier run and this trial has only just come around in time.

“Sir Michael is bringing him along very gradually, a month ago you certainly wouldn't have been thinking of winning any Derby but he's coming to hand now,” Saeed Suhail's racing manager Bruce Raymond said. “One thing about our horse is he'll stay very well and whatever he does in the Dante, he'll improve a lot for. He'd have to run well, but if he gets beat it doesn't automatically mean he wouldn't run in the Derby. He will be a decent horse in time.”

 

Will Experience Count?

While Desert Crown lacks seasoning, at the other end of that spectrum is Nas Syndicate and Tony O'Callaghan's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud and G3 Prix de Conde winner El Bodegon (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), whose defeat of Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and company in the latter contest looks stronger all the time. Trainer James Ferguson missed the chance to saddle a runner in the 1000 Guineas, but he is well on track to be involved in the G1 Cazoo Derby and all bar Highclere's G2 Royal Lodge S. and G3 Acomb S. winner Royal Patronage (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) have to improve to get to his level.

“He's the only Group 1 winner in the field and we've beaten the Derby favourite,” Ferguson said. “Stone Age looks progressive and has obviously done very well from two to three, but on paper you've got to be very happy with what we've got here in the yard.”

Jason Hart said of Royal Patronage, “His Acomb win here was good and there was no fluke in it–he has a great attitude and this course plays to his strengths.”

 

More Thunder Forecast

Night of Thunder (Ire) has already delivered a stunner at this meeting in Highfield Princess (Fr) and he is represented by the favourite in Thursday's G2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Middleton Fillies' S. Heading Newtown Anner Stud Farm's duo is the Ger Lyons-trained impressive Listed Noblesse S. winner Thunder Kiss (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}), who has been patiently handled by her trainer and gives the impression she is ready to produce something special. She is met by the Stoute duo Ville de Grace (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}) and Noon Star (Galileo {Ire}), with the former narrowly denied in Newmarket's G2 Dahlia S. over nine furlongs May 1, her latest honest and consistent effort. Juddmonte's 'TDN Rising Star' Noon Star is still an unknown quantity, but she has to be better than her workmanlike success in the Apr. 26 Listed Nottinghamshire Oaks.

“Hopefully she'll have progressed, she was off the track for a long while, so you'd hope there would be natural progression from the last run to this one,” Barry Mahon said.

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