The Weekly Wrap: Championing The Cause

The word champion can be used in many different categories in racing and during Irish Champions Weekend, there were a number of individuals, both human and equine, for whom this already applies or soon will.

The champion everyone in racing was most pleased to see in person at the Curragh was Pat Smullen, and we'll be hearing more from him in his TDN column on Wednesday. It is worth adding, however, that Smullen's modesty is such that his words tomorrow will doubtless focus on others, so here's a brief thought about him. Simply, without the extraordinary exploits of his race-riding career coupled with an appaealing lack of egotism in his day-to-day life, racing folk—from fans and grooms to some of the sport's biggest owner-breeders—would not have put their hands so deep in their pockets. The various activities surrounding the Irish Champions Weekend have so far raised €1.3 million for Cancer Trials Ireland, and that tally will rise still.

Furthermore, this is a man currently undergoing another course of chemotherapy, which is as physically draining as it is mentally. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was a Herculean effort for Smullen even to attend the races on Sunday, so while he is thanking others, it is important that we thank him for spearheading this campaign in the midst of his own illness.

 Here, There and Everywhere
There was no shortage of champion jockeys in Ireland over the weekend. A magnificent nine lined up for the Pat Smullen Champions Race on Sunday, and though Britain's reigning champion Silvestre de Sousa is sidelined through injury, the champion jockey-elect, Oisin Murphy, made a quick visit to his homeland on Saturday for a frustrating ride on Deirdre (Jpn) in the G1 QIPCO Irish Champion S. before taking part in an informative day of Arc trials in Paris on Sunday.

The one star name missing from Ireland was Frankie Dettori. The fact that he takes so few rides in comparison to his younger rivals means that numerically he is way down the jockeys' table with 57 wins to Murphy's 190, but reshuffle the order by prize-money won and Dettori's stellar season is writ large. With £5,437,576 earned by his mounts this season he has a tally more than double that of his nearest pursuer Ryan Moore, and he added another two Group 1 victories aboard Logician (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Star Catcher (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) to his haul of 16 top-flight wins in 2019.

There have been two Irish champion jockeys since Pat Smullen notched his ninth title in 2016 and those two, Colin Keane and Donnacha O'Brien, are currently just one win apart at the top of the table. The same number splits Andrew Slattery and Oisin Orr in Ireland's apprentice title, with Slattery having taken a narrow lead on Saturday courtesy of his third consecutive win on Kastasa (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) for the Aga Khan and Dermot Weld.

All Guns Blazing
The Aga Khan's success over the weekend extended to the G2 Blandford S. winner Tarnawa (Ire), a daughter of Shamardal, who was also in the limelight after Pinatubo (Ire) won the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S. by a whopping nine lengths. For a colt who started his winning streak on his May 10 debut at Wolverhampton, it would have been easy to dismiss him as an early 2-year-old who might be found out once some bigger guns started to fire in the autumn. However, his electrifying performance at the Curragh, following a five-length strike in the G2 Vintage S., was akin to a cannon's boom which could have been heard by Siskin (First Defence) from his stable at Glenburnie. With Pinatubo likely to head to the Dewhurst and Siskin to the Middle Park, the two exciting juveniles may not meet until next year but if both remain healthy and sound, they are scintillating prospects to savour ahead of the Classics.

Shamardal is currently fourth in the European stallion table behind Galileo (Ire), Dubawi (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire), with Frankel (GB) behind him in fifth. Each member of that quintet played a significant part in stakes results over the last week.

The irrepressible Galileo was represented by Group 1 winners Love (Ire), Magical (Ire) and Search For A Song (Ire), Group 2 winners Waldgeist (GB) and Mogul (GB), Group 3 winner Norway (Ire) and listed scorers Blissful (Ire) and Lancaster House (Ire). Moreover, his offspring filled the top three slots in both the Irish Champion S. and the Irish St Leger. Galileo's sons Frankel and Ruler Of The World (Ire) were responsible for the G1 St Leger winner Logician (GB) and G1 Matron S. winner Iridessa (Ire), while his daughters Starlet's Sister (Ire) and Sky Crystal (Ire), were represented by Group 2 winners Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Space Traveller (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}).

Newsells Park's Stakes Treble
The aforementioned Mogul and Waldgeist continued an excellent season for their breeder/co-breeder Newsells Park Stud, with Mogul being the brother to dual Group 1 winner and Derby third Japan (GB).

Ispolini (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) completed a memorable weekend for the Hertfordshire stud by collecting the G3 Deutsches St Leger for Godolphin in Dortmund and he paid a further compliment to Newsells Park Stud resident Nathaniel (Ire), who is a three-parts-brother to Ispolini's grandam Playful Act (Ire) (Sadler's Wells). The Frankel yearling colt out of Ispolini's dam Giant's Play (Giant's Causeway) is heading to Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale in a 26-strong draft for the stud, which will also offer a Dubawi half-brother to Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Tamarkuz (Speightstown) for John and Tanya Gunther.

Dubawi's results were enhanced by the return to form of G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner Old Persian (GB), who won the GI Northern Dancer Turf S. at Woodbine and, like Too Darn Hot (GB) and Wuheida (GB), is out of a mare by Singspiel (Ire).

A Galaxy of Stars
Stradivarius (Ire) remains the stellar performer for his sire Sea The Stars (Ire) and, having already won his second Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers' Million, he completed the old-fashioned stayers' Triple Crown by adding the G2 Doncaster Cup to his Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup victories.

The Gosden stable's embarrassment of riches was augmented by the G1 Prix Vermeille victory for a high-class daughter of Sea The Stars in Irish Oaks winner Star Catcher (GB) for Anthony Oppenheimer but, unlike the owner-breeder's Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}), she is unlikely to head to the Arc even after her authoritative win at ParisLongchamp. Instead Star Catcher will swerve stable-mate Enable (GB) and be saved for QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot.

Gosden also fielded Anapurna (GB) in the Vermeille but she could manage only seventh on her first start since becoming Frankel's first British Classic winner in the Oaks back in June. His second was provided by yet another Clarehaven representative, Logician (GB), who gave Gosden his fifth victory in the St Leger and Frankie Dettori his sixth.

Logician, an echo of his damsire Daylami (Ire) with his shimmering grey coat, is now unbeaten in five starts and is the highlight to date for his dam Scuffle (GB), a half-sister to Bated Breath (GB) and Cityscape (GB), despite the fact that the mare's previous four foals are all multiple winners. Two of them—Suffused (GB)(Champs Elysees {GB}) and Battlement (GB) (Dansili {GB})—have also earned black type.

Scuffle's sibling, the Juddmonte stallion Bated Breath, heaped further glory on their dam Tantina (Distant View) as the sire of two stakes winners this weekend. Breathtaking Look (GB) won the G3 Japan Racing Association Sceptre S. for Stuart Williams and Jonathan Parry, while Space Traveller (GB) ensured that owner Steve Parkin would at least have some of his sponsorship money returned when he added the G3 Clipper Logistics Boomerang S. to his victory in the G3 Jersey S. at Royal Ascot.

Bated Breath's second Royal Ascot winner, Daahyeh (GB), also performed well in Ireland at the weekend when finishing second to Love in the G1 Moyglare Stud S.

Ringfort Bubbling Over
There were two champagne moments for Derek and Gay Veitch's Ringfort Stud on Saturday. Firstly Threat (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), bred by the Lumiere Partnership at Ringfort, continued on his upward trajectory to win his second Group 2 contest of the term when holding off Royal Crusade (Ire) (Shamardal) in the Pommery Champagne S. at Doncaster.

The same sponsor also supported Musselburgh's card where another Ringfort graduate, Just Hubert (Ire), rallied impressively to win the Edinburgh Cup. As a member of the first crop of the late Dunaden (Fr), the 3-year-old also earned his connections extra reward from the stallion's breeders' scheme premiums which are paid out by Sheikh Fahad on top of any prize-money earned. As a four-time winner, Just Hubert is his sire's most prolific scorer and biggest plunderer of the breeders' scheme pot.

A Rare Gem
While John Gosden's record in the St Leger is impressive, Dermot Weld's dominance of the Irish equivalent will take some beating. The trainer's Vintage Crop (GB) (Rousillon) won back-to-back runnings each side of his historic Melbourne Cup victory in 1993 and 1994, but this feat was surpassed by the phenomenally consistent Vinnie Roe (Ire) (Definite Article {GB}), who made the race his own between 2001 and 2004. Voleuse De Coeurs (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) followed up with a six-length win in 2013 and was the most recent mare to triumph until Sunday's dominant performance by Moyglare Stud's homebred Search For A Song.

It was a victory that was entirely fitting for so many reasons. Moyglare's Eva Maria Bucher-Haefner has not only been a significant donor to the complete overhaul of the Curragh racecourse but has also provided funding for great improvements to the training centre, while her stud was a Group 1 sponsor during the Irish Champions Weekend.

The only 3-year-old in the Leger field, Search For A Song is the second stakes winner for her dam Polished Gem (Ire) (Danehill) this season after her brother Falcon Eight (Ire)'s victory in the listed Coral Marathon at Sandown. She is also her dam's second Group 1 winner after Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), whose name has been given to the new all-weather gallop on the Curragh which runs alongside the 'Old Vic'.

Arguably the most resilient of Polished Gem's offspring is Custom Cut (Ire) (Notnowcato {GB}), whose 13 wins include three Group 2s, three Group 3s and another three listed contests, while her daughter Sapphire (Ire) (Medicean {GB}) won the G2 QIPCO British Champions Fillies' and Mares' S.

Such a matriarch has indeed been a gem for an owner-breeder whose generosity in supporting others within the industry deserves to be rewarded.

Stars Out For Newmarket's Open Weekend
Newmarket throws open its doors on Saturday and Sunday for the Henry Cecil Open Weekend and among the many events throughout the two days, the chance to see some of John Gosden's stars will be worth getting out of bed early for on a Sunday morning. Enable, Stradivarius and Logician are among those who will canter up Warren Hill at 8am, an hour before 21 Newmarket yards open their doors for the morning. These include Sir Mark Prescott's Heath House Stables and Roger Varian's Carlburg Stables.

On Sunday afternoon, a variety of racing stars, including William Buick and Ryan Moore, will be showing their versatility when competing in the show jumping competition on the Severals, while much less glamorously this correspondent will be serving Newmarket's finest sausages at Beverley House Stables from 9am. There really is no rest for the wicked.