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Soft Whisper Leads Godolphin Trifecta in 1000 Guineas Trial

4th-Meydan, Cond., AED183,650, NH/SH 3yo, f, 1400m, 1:26.72, ft.
SOFT WHISPER (IRE) (f, 3, Dubawi {Ire}–Placidia {Ire}, by Sea the Stars {Ire}) gave trainer Saeed bin Suroor the trifecta in the UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Presented by Longines, as stablemates Last Sunset (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Final Thought (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) followed her across the wire at Meydan on Thursday. The conditions race is a pointer for the Listed UAE 1000 Guineas on Jan. 28. However, the daughter of Placidia’s task was made easier with the withdrawal of Doug Watson trainee Super Chianti (Super Saver), a winner of her only start locally on Nov. 19. All of Watson’s Thursday runners were scratched due to COVID-19 positives among his grooms the morning of Jan. 7, and the outfit is under quarantine.

One of an five of Godolphin runners in the trial, Soft Whisper missed the kick, but quickly caught up the field, before charging up to sit fifth with rivals to either side for the backstretch run. She surged up on the bend–with Last Sunset to her outside–to tackle the leader Jumeirah Beach (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) in earnest, before taking command 300 metres from the line. Given a couple of reminders, she maintained her position all the way home, winning by 2 ½ lengths. Final Thought was 3 1/4 lengths behind Last Sunset in third.

Jockey Pat Cosgrave said, “I rode her in her first race at Salisbury and managed to get her beat. I ended up phoning Saeed to apologise as we thought she would win. She took a bit of time to get her act together, but has improved from each race and that was a good prep. The 1600m will suit her better and she will have learned plenty having had some dirt kicked at her.

“I could not pull her up which bodes well not only for the UAE 1000 Guineas but hopefully the UAE Oaks as well. That was a good effort.”

The third foal and first winner for her two-time winning dam Placidia (Ire), Soft Whisper is followed by a juvenile filly by Shamardal. Placidia is a half-sister to French highweight and later sire Policy Maker (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), GSW and G1 Prix du Cadran runner-up Pushkin (Ire) (Caerleon), GSW Place Rouge (Ire) (Desert King {Ire}) and to the dam of G1 Prix Ganay hero Planteur (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). This is also the same family of Classic-winning Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {Ire}), the hero of three Group 1 races, and Arc hero Peintre Celebre (Nureyev), European Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Colt in 1997 among others. Lifetime Record: 5-3-2-0, $45,779. Click for the Racing Post chart or the VIDEO.

O/B-Godolphin (Ire). T-Saeed bin Suroor.

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Saudi Aim For Prince Of Arran

Fresh off placing in his third consecutive G1 Melbourne Cup when third at Flemington on Nov. 3, Saeed bel Obaida’s evergreen 8-year-old gelding Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) is to race on the Saudi Cup card in late February before heading to Dubai. Prince Of Arran finished third behind Call The Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Longines Turf Cup on the Saudi Cup card last year. First up, though, is likely to be a prep race at Kempton, according to trainer Charlie Fellowes.

“He’s going to Saudi Arabia, provided everything is fine,” said Fellowes. “He’s come back in looking too well, but he didn’t go out until late. He’s come back with a proper belly on him, so I’ll have to get some proper work into him.

“I think I’ll give him a prep run before Saudi, which I’ve not done before, but I just feel he needs it this year, so he might go to Kempton for a Fast-Track Qualifier over two miles in early February. That is two weeks before the Saudi Cup and it would work absolutely perfectly, so he’d run there, go to Saudi the following week and then off to Dubai.”

“I just feel he needs the run this year,” Fellowes added. “He loves Kempton, two miles there is perfect for him and should he win that–who knows what will happen with the pandemic–but it gives us the option of Finals Day if he gets qualified. It will open up a few doors as well as helping me get him fitter.”

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Fierement Retired to Breeders Stallion Station

Four-time Group 1 winner Fierement (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}-Lune d’Or {Fr}, by Green Tune) has been retired due to a suspensory ligament injury in his right foreleg. The bay sustained the injury when running third in the Dec. 27 G1 Arima Kinen Grand Prix. Named the 2020 Japanese Champion Older Horse, the 5-year-old will stand at Breeders Stallion Station this year.

Bred by Northern Racing and raced by Sunday Racing, the son of G1 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Lune d’Oro won three of his four starts at three including the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger). Kept in training in 2019, he added his first edition of the G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) in five starts. Never off the board in his final season, Fierement narrowly won his second Tenno Sho (Spring) last May before a second in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the aforementioned third in the Arima Kinen. He retires with a mark of 12-5-3-2 and earnings of $6,521,654.

He is a half-brother to the dam of MGSW and MG1SP Inns of Court (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). This is the extended family of French Champion Miler Luth Enchantee (Fr) (Be My Guest).

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What’s In a Name: Amniarix

6th-Wolverhampton, £20,000, Cond, 1-4, 4yo/up, f/m, 7f 36y (AWT), 1:26.70, st.
AMNIARIX (f, 4, Speightstown–Bold Lass {Ire}, by Sea the Stars {Ire}) Lifetime Record: 5-3-0-1, $29,465. O/B-Bjorn Nielsen (KY); T-Ed Walker.

The recent Wolverhampton female winner Amniarix is out of a mare named Bold Lass and her namesake was indeed a very brave young woman. Amniarix was the spy codename of Jeannie Rousseau (1919-2017), who was not only a hero of the French Resistance but also an uncompromising survivor of three German prison camps. Jeannie’s command of the German language was apparently perfect and she had access to Nazi war planners as part of her work for a French company in occupied Paris. Her reports to British spymaster R V Jones were remarkable for their quality and led to the famous August 1943 raid on Peenemunde, where the Germans were developing the V-2 missile-bombs. Jeanie was arrested by the Germans in April 1944, just a few weeks before D-Day and the Normandy landings; she was only 25 years of age. Her captivity took her to the camps of Ravensbruck, Torgau, Konigsberg, and to Ravensbruck again–in a truly horrific war odyssey. When the Swedish Red Cross rescued her from Ravensbruck at the end of the war, she weighed only 31kg (70lbs). Spy chief R V Jones was not the only one to think highly of Amniarix/Jeannie Rousseau (he called her “one of the most remarkable young women of her generation”): the CIA awarded her the Seal Medallion in 1993, under Director R James Woolsey. This legendary spy was also modest: she did not talk much with reporters and historians, and her incredible story is not that well known. Therefore, credit is to be given to whoever gave this historic name to this tenacious US-bred 4-year-old filly, whose persistence, by the way, won her the race after having been hampered at the start.

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