By Tom Frary
Emerging on top in an eventful renewal of Leopardstown's G3 Ballylinch Stud Red Rocks Stakes on Sunday, Cayton Park Stud and Susan Magnier's Thesecretadversary (St Mark's Basilica) got the Fozzy Stack stable off to a flyer in 2026.
“He had been working well this spring and the form was in the book,” his trainer said. “We always thought he'd get a mile and although he was a bit keen there, I'm hoping it was just exuberance. He's in all the European Classics bar the Italian and I also entered him in a million-dollar race at Keeneland the same day as the English Guineas. That probably won't happen now, but I'll talk to the owners.”
Able to draft under Seamie Heffernan, the exuberant homebred who had captured the Listed Churchill Stakes, finished second in Royal Ascot's Listed Chesham Stakes and fifth in the GI Summer Stakes last term was up ahead of the drama back in the pack as one of the Ballydoyle quartet Warsaw (Wootton Bassett) deposited Ronan Whelan. Surging away from last year's Phoenix Stakes hero Power Blue (Space Blues) from the furlong pole, the 6-1 shot who holds a 2,000 Guineas entry hit the line with 2 1/2 lengths to spare.
“We've always thought a lot of him and he was by far the best horse today,” Heffernan said. “We thought he was a mile-and-a-quarter horse last year and he has controlled speed, he handles any ground–he's just class.”
The @BallylinchStud Red Rocks Stakes goes the way of Thesecretadversary! 🟦⬜️ pic.twitter.com/wVR5aV4qE4
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) April 12, 2026
Pedigree Notes
Thesecretadversary is the second foal out of the Listed Victor McCalmont Memorial Stakes winner and G2 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes-placed Too Soon To Panic (Gleneagles). The second dam is Oratorio's G3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes winner Scream Blue Murder, who also produced Galileo's dual Listed-placed Wargrave and G3 Flame of Tara Stakes-placed Ahandfulofsummers.
Also related to the multiple Group-winning South African mare Gibraltar Blue (Rock Of Gibraltar), Too Soon To Panic's two-year-old is a full-sister to the winner while she also has a yearling colt by Wootton Bassett.
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