By Sean Cronin
Aidan O'Brien trainee Savethelastdance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}–Daddys Lil Darling, by Scat Daddy) shed maiden status with a game frontrunning display over 10 furlongs at Leopardstown last month and stormed to the head of ante-post betting lists for Epsom's G1 Oaks after unleashing a spectacular performance in Wednesday's Listed Weatherbys Digital Solutions Cheshire Oaks at Chester.
The 8-11 favourite's only moment of worry came at the break, when hampered as the gates opened, and she was bustled along early to retain contact with the main cluster. Inching forward inside the last half-mile, she powered to the front rounding the home turn and surged ever clear into another county in the straight, hitting the line with a scarcely believable 22-length margin in hand on There's The Door (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). Ermesinde (Ire) (Golden Horn {GB}) ran on to finish 3 1/4 lengths further adrift in third. Savethelastdance's victory was a record-breaking eighth Robert Sangster Memorial Cup for O'Brien, a contest won in recent years by subsequent Oaks winners Light Shift (Kingmambo) and Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}).
“I was very impressed and you can only be impressed by what she's done there,” said Ryan Moore after annexing a sixth edition of the contest. “They kind of all gave up with a half-mile to go and she was just getting going, but she gave me a very good feel. She's probably given me as good a feel in this race as the ones I've ridden in it before. She stepped a little slow, but they went very hard early on and she just relaxed and followed them round. I thought I'd just make sure she knew what she had to do and she stretched all the way to the line and ran right through the line.”
Pedigree Notes
Savethelastdance is the first of three reported foals produced by GI American Oaks victrix Daddys Lil Darling (Scat Daddy), herself a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint hero Mongolian Saturday (Any Given Saturday). The March-foaled chestnut is a full-sister to the hitherto unraced 2-year-old colt Mr Hampstead and half to a weanling filly by Into Mischief. Daddys Lil Darling, of course, won infamy when sent over from the States by Ken McPeek to contest Enable's 2017 G1 Oaks and was scratched in a thunderstorm after unshipping Olivier Peslier in the preliminaries and bolting to the start.
Wednesday, Chester, Britain
WEATHERBYS DIGITAL SOLUTIONS CHESHIRE OAKS (FOR THE ROBERT SANGSTER MEMORIAL CUP)-Listed, £100,000, Chester, 5-10, 3yo, f, 11f 75yT, 2:36.64, sf.
1–SAVETHELASTDANCE (IRE), 128, f, 3, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Daddys Lil Darling (GISW-US, $1,335,305), by Scat Daddy
2nd Dam: Miss Hot Salsa, by Houston
3rd Dam: Miss High Blade, by Highland Blade
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Westerberg; B-Daddys Lil Darling Syndicate (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. £56,020. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $80,696.
2–There's The Door (Ire), 128, f, 3, Starspangledbanner (Aus)–Callisto Star (Ire), by Fastnet Rock (Aus). 1ST BLACK TYPE. (€80,000 Ylg '21 GOAUTY). O-Paul & Clare Rooney; B-Kevin J Molloy (IRE); T-David Evans. £21,330.
3–Ermesinde (Ire), 128, f, 3, Golden Horn (GB)–Eye Witness (Ger), by Adlerflug (Ger). 1ST BLACK TYPE. (€45,000 Wlg '20 GOFNOV; €58,000 RNA Ylg '21 GOFOR). O-Venice Consulting, d'Ascanio & Gambini; B-Kildaragh Stud (IRE); T-Kevin Philppart De Foy. £10,680.
Margins: 22, 3 1/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 0.73, 6.00, 25.00.
Also Ran: Sirona (Ger), Ashtanga (GB), Cite D'Or (Fr), Wintercrack (GB). Scratched: Luckin Brew (Ire).
Oh my! Savethelastdance looks a proper one in the Cheshire Oaks for Ryan Moore and Aidan O'Brien 🤯 @ChesterRaces pic.twitter.com/3bZFQng84Y
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 10, 2023
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