By Tom Frary
Although he is to be feared in any racing scenario, it is a given that Frankie Dettori must never be allowed to dominate from the front but in reality there was little that could be done to stop the peerless jockey extend his current hot streak on Star Catcher (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) in Saturday's G1 Kerrygold Irish Oaks. Quickly establishing dominion on Anthony Oppenheimer's TDN Rising Star on a Curragh track that is increasingly becoming a haven for front-runners, the homebred became the fourth consecutive Classic winner on this circuit to make all in 2019. As in the G2 Ribblesdale S. at Royal Ascot June 20, it was again Ballydoyle's Fleeting (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) who put the frighteners on in the closing stages with all else readily beaten but ultimately it was the same one-two with a half length the margin this time. The 5-2 favourite Pink Dogwood (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) was 4 1/2 lengths away in third, unable to live with the pair of highly progressive contemporaries ahead of her. “She's a filly who has done nothing but improve, the vibes at home were good and John is a great trainer and he had a good feeling about her so we knew we had her good enough to do herself justice,” Dettori said of the 7-2 second favourite who had been supplemented for €40,000 at the confirmation stage. “We weren't going to sit and sprint and so when I knew we had to make our own way home it was just a matter of getting the fractions right. Having a tailwind up the straight helps when on you are on a front-runner. I smelled the runner-up coming, but I could have gone a little bit further and I don't think she'd have passed me.”
It was possible at the time to put Star Catcher's Ribblesdale win in part down to the “Frankie effect”, as she made up one of his unforgettable four-timer on Royal Ascot Thursday, but it is more likely that she was a filly on the up tackling a mile-and-a-half trip that was made for her. Like her G1 Epsom Oaks-winning stablemate Anapurna (GB) (Frankel {GB}), she was introduced on the all-weather in December and was likewise unplaced but that outing on Chelmsford's Polytrack was over an inadequate mile. Next seen earning TDN Rising Star status when the 4 1/2-length winner of the 10-furlong Newbury maiden Apr. 12 won by the future Oaks heroines Eswarah (GB) (Unfuwain) and Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and last year by her accomplished stablemate Lah Ti Dar (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), she seemed to excel on the soft ground which she also encountered at the Royal meeting.
In between, Star Catcher had finished third behind the class act Queen Power (Ire) (Shamardal) when not going hard enough in front in the May 18 Listed Haras de Bouquetot Fillies' Trial S. over the same course and distance of her maiden success. That came on ground officially described as good and so when the rain failed to arrive in Kildare there was a doubt as to how she would handle the quick surface, but in the event it only served to enhance her chances once Frankie had usurped Peach Tree (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) on the speed. Able to use her generous stride to suppress the majority of her rivals' ambitions by the two-furlong pole, there was only the habitual strong closer Fleeting who was able to engage where it mattered. Motoring into contention with what looked to be a winning surge inside the final furlong, Donnacha O'Brien's well-supported mount instead met a wall of opposition with Star Catcher countering the move as the line neared.
While there was no repeat of the demolition job of the stable's 2017 winner and now-legendary Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), this performance had significant merit with Fleeting rating an improved performer and the G1 Pretty Polly S. protagonists Iridessa (Ire) (Ruler of the World {Ire}) and Pink Dogwood unable to land a blow. It makes the earlier eclipse of the stable's fellow TDN Rising Star and Ribblesdale third Sparkle Roll (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) in the Listed Aphrodite S. at Newmarket even more surprising, but first and foremost it provides Gosden with an enviable quandary as to how to divide his clutch of high-class middle-distance fillies and conquer throughout the remainder of the season.
“She's a fabulous filly and she's won a Classic, so that's what it's all about,” he said. “It's no fluke and we've always liked this filly. I couldn't believe it when she was beaten first time out at Chelmsford. Frankie said her best furlong was her last in the Ribblesdale and he was determined not to see a falsely-run race. That's Frankie, he has the courage to do that which comes from years of experience and having a clock in your head. He rode a quite beautiful race. She's out of a good mare and is by Sea the Stars, who to me is a phenomenally good stallion. She's very talented and can only get better with age, as she's only just coming to herself.”
With Enable, Anapurna, Coronet (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Lah Ti Dar to juggle, Gosden was understandably non-committal about Star Catcher's future targets. “She is a mile-and-a-half filly and we've not over-raced her,” he added. “Anthony [Oppenheimer] is a great sportsman and he brought Cracksman here and Golden Horn to the Irish Champion, so he's a competitor. Maybe later in the year, the [G1] Prix Royallieu [at ParisLongchamp Oct. 5] or [G1] Prix Vermeille [at ParisLongchamp Sept. 15] could be options, but we'll see how she comes out of this.”
Star Catcher had some living up to do after the GI Canadian International triumph of her half-brother Cannock Chase (Lemon Drop Kid), but she now has the bragging rights among the progeny of Lynnwood Chase (Horse Chestnut {SAf}) which also include Cannock Chase's G2 Prix Eugene Adam-winning full-brother Pisco Sour. The second dam is the listed-placed Lady Ilsley (Trempolino), who was responsible for the late Dr Vincent O'Brien's G3 Ballycorus S., G2 Jebel Hatta and G3 Al Rashidiya-winning sire Lord Admiral (El Prado {Ire}). The third dam Sue Warner (Forli {Arg}) is kin to the G2 Prix Maurice de Gheest scorer Beaudelaire (Nijinsky II) and is the ancestress of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero Action This Day (Kris S.) and the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Drefong (Gio Ponti). Lynnwood Chase also has the unraced 2-year-old filly Maurimo (GB) (Kingman {GB}), a yearling filly by Frankel (GB) and a colt foal by Time Test (GB).
Saturday, Curragh, Ireland
KERRYGOLD IRISH OAKS-G1, €400,000, Curragh, 7-20, 3yo, f, 12fT, 2:34.49, gd.
1–STAR CATCHER (GB), 126, f, 3, by Sea the Stars (Ire)
1st Dam: Lynnwood Chase, by Horse Chestnut (SAf)
2nd Dam: Lady Ilsley, by Trempolino
3rd Dam: Sue Warner, by Forli (Arg)
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (240,000gns Wlg '16 TATFOA). O-A E Oppenheimer; B-Hascombe & Valiant Studs (GB); T-John Gosden; J-Lanfranco Dettori. €228,000. Lifetime Record: GSW-Eng, 5-3-0-1, $428,824. *1/2 to Cannock Chase (Lemon Drop Kid), GISW-Can & MGSW-Eng, $680,268; and Pisco Sour (Lemon Drop Kid), GSW-Eng & Fr, $412,610. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Fleeting (Ire), 126, f, 3, Zoffany (Ire)–Azafata (Spa), by Motivator (GB). (€50,000 Wlg '16 ARQDEC; €100,000 Ylg '17 ARAUG). O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-Fernando Bermudez (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. €80,000.
3–Pink Dogwood (Ire), 126, f, 3, Camelot (GB)">Camelot (GB)–Question Times (GB), by Shamardal. (115,000gns Wlg '16 TATFOA; €380,000 Ylg '17 GOFOR). O-Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Sweetmans Bloodstock (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. €40,000.
Margins: HF, 4HF, 3/4. Odds: 3.50, 4.50, 2.50.
Also Ran: Search For A Song (Ire), Manuela de Vega (Ire), Peach Tree (Ire), Iridessa (Ire), Trethias (GB). Scratched: Antonia de Vega (Ire), Operatic Export (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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