By Tom Frary
WINTER STROLL
Sunday's chore for Winter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas proved ultimately straightforward as Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's impressive grey simply ate up the ground at The Curragh to emulate stablemate Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and bring up a second Guineas double for her epoch-making stable. Something of a surprise package in Newmarket's G1 1000 Guineas three weeks earlier, she was 8-13 this time and despite running keenly in the hands of Ryan Moore tracking the leading trio was able to gain command passing the quarter pole and open up for an emphatic 4 3/4-length success. In an O'Brien whitewash, Aidan's Roly Poly (War Front) and Hydrangea (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) denied Joseph's Intricately (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in a three-way photo for the minor placings, with a head and a nose separating that trio. “It was very easy,” her rider commented. “She gave me a lovely ride and took me into the race without me asking her a thing. I couldn't be more impressed–she was relentless and kept building all the way to the line. It rode like a piece of work to her and the way she felt today there is no reason that she will not keep progressing. She will probably get a little bit further and a mile or a mile and a quarter will probably come alike to her, but she's a fast filly.”
Sunday, Curragh, Ireland
TATTERSALLS IRISH 1000 GUINEAS-G1, €300,000, CUR, 5-28, 3yo, f, 8fT, 1:39.78, yl.
1–WINTER (IRE), 126, f, 3, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Laddies Poker Two (Ire), by Choisir (Aus)
2nd Dam: Break of Day, by Favorite Trick
3rd Dam: Quelle Affaire, by Riverman
O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-Laddies Poker Two Syndicate (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. €171,000. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Eng, 6-3-1-2, $585,098. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Roly Poly, 126, f, 3, War Front">War Front–Misty For Me (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). ($575,000 RNA Ylg '15 KEESEP). O-Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Susan Magnier; B-Misty For Me Syndicate (KY); T-Aidan O'Brien. €60,000.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″][bullet ad=”us-bred-ky-bred-keen-grad”]3–Hydrangea (Ire), 126, f, 3, Galileo (Ire)–Beauty Is Truth (Ire), by Pivotal (GB). O-Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Beauty Is Truth Syndicate (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. €30,000.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”]Margins: 4 3/4, HD, NO. Odds: 0.60, 14.00, 7.00.
Also Ran: Intricately (Ire), Bean Feasa (GB), Rehana (Ire), Aneen (Ire), Asking (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
In the shadow of her G1 Fillies' Mile-winning Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) entering the 1000 Guineas, Winter charted an easier path than her stablemate through the Classic and the debate continues as to whether she would have been the victress had the race been run to suit them both. On Friday, we will get the chance to reflect further on that scenario after Rhododendron has run in the Oaks but for now it is Winter who is queen bee among the 3-year-old fillies at Ballydoyle. Handled by David Wachman at two, she had just a seven-furlong maiden win on Dundalk's Polytrack in August to show for her trainer's high regard but by the time she appeared for Aidan O'Brien with a second in Leopardstown's seven-furlong G3 1000 Guineas Trial S. it was clear that her former trainer was right. Denied by a head by Hydrangea in that seven-furlong prep Apr. 8, she thrived on the Ballydoyle work program leading up to the Guineas and advanced at a rate of knots to emerge on top in a strong renewal of the Newmarket Classic.
Tending to over-race early behind the leading trio which included the even keener Rehana (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and the solid pace-setter Hydrangea, Winter was given a squeeze by Ryan Moore with three furlongs remaining and the response was immediate. A furlong later, she was beginning to dominate and by the line she had cleared away from three proven group 1 performers as if they were underlings. Rehana, who finished fifth, was demoted to sixth by the stewards after it was judged that jockey Pat Smullen had taken the ground of Bean Feasa (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}).
Even without Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Aidan O'Brien is looking forward to a summer of riches and Winter will be one of several potential odds-on shots at Royal Ascot next month. “She came forward from the first day at Leopardstown to Newmarket and obviously we felt that she came forward then to today,” he said. “You'd imagine she might get a mile and quarter when she gets a mile that strong here at the Curragh, but she's a good traveller. If everything went well, you'd be thinking of the [June 23 G1] Coronation S. with her, because she is a good strong traveller. If everything is well then you have to make your mind up where you go after that. Do you go to Goodwood over a mile and a quarter [for the G1 Nassau S. Aug. 3], or do you go to the [G1] Falmouth [S. at Newmarket July 14] and those races? The lads will talk about it and see what they want to do. She's a big, powerful filly and is very exciting.”
Yet another group 1 winner for her supersire, Winter was becoming only the third filly in history to complete the English-Irish 1000 Guineas here. The second foal out of the impressive 2010 Wokingham H. scorer Laddies Poker Two, she descends from Quelle Affaire, a daughter of the French juvenile champion and G1 Prix Morny winner Ancient Regime (Olden Times). She is a full-sister to the G3 Concorde S.-winning sire Rami and a half to the G3 Prix Eclipse-winning sire Crack Regiment, as well as the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp runner-up La Grande Epoque (Lyphard). After Winter are two more daughters of Galileo, the 2-year-old Snowflakes (Ire) who ran at this meeting 24 hours earlier and a yearling.
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