Illustrious list: Today’s front page has a large photo of Polonia. Jim Bolger’s talented filly is the leading Irish hope for a victory at Royal Ascot next week. She will probably run in the Queen Mary Stakes.
Valentine Lamb’s front page article is about viruses, and the prevention of same. At the Epsom Derby last week, Wise Counsellor finishes last. During this week, Jacqueline O’Brien says that samples have been taken from some horses at Ballydoyle and sent to the Irish Equine Centre in Johnstown. But Lamb reiterates that there is no truth in the rumour that the Ballydoyle stables are closing.
The other photo on the front page is of French jockey Eric Legrix. A piece with no by-line says that Legrix (20) is the latest jockey to be “fired” by Daniel Wildenstein. However, this puts Legrix in good company, as the list includes Lester Piggott and Pat Eddery.
Weld five-timer: Phoenix Park hosts racing last Saturday where the going is good. And the going is especially good if your name is either Weld or Kinane.
The Rosewell duo, trainer Dermot Weld and rider Michael Kinane, win five of the six races. They include today’s feature, the Kilfrush/What A Guest Stakes, a Listed race over a mile, worth £21,256, where last year’s winner, Kings River, comes back and wins the race again.
Proceedings start with Wait Till Monday, 4/5 favourite, winning the opening six furlong juvenile maiden. Then Index’s takes the Cherry Blossom Stakes at 8/11 favourite.
The next three winners all carry the Firestone colours. Popularity takes the Kinderhill Oaks Fillies Trial, and she is popular with the punters at 2/1 favourite. This is followed by Kings River winning the feature race at even money; and next comes the Sporting Life Handicap, which goes to 5/2 favourite City Council.
The final race is the Eddie Brennan Ltd Shipping Maiden, and here Weld and Kinane attempt to go through the card with Amplification. But punters select Hungry Giant as their first choice, making him 5/2 favourite. Hungry Giant, ironically, is owned by Moyglare Stud Farm, but trained by John Oxx and ridden by Dermot Hogan. Hungry Giant is sent to the front in the final furlong, but swerves to avoid the whip. Amplification comes with his challenge, but Hogan rides Hungry Giant hands and heels to a win by half a length.
A very good day for Rosewell House is also a good day for punters, with all six races won by the first choice. The Jackpot is won by 224 winning tickets. The Pool is £8,899, and the winners each go home with £31.83. Today’s Tote aggregate is down from £107,163 last year to today’s figure of £74,028; but last year’s card had seven races.
Sunday racing: Roscommon stages a Sunday meeting for the first time and the going is good. The crowds turn up and a new Tote aggregate record is set of £85,612.
The team of John Oxx and Dermot Hogan pick up after Saturday by winning the Fuerty Maiden first division with 4/6 favourite Gallant Gold; while Michael Halford wins division two with Fighting Hard at 14/1.
Over jumps, the Percy French Handicap Chase is won by 3/1 favourite Smartside, from Shanamore and the 13-year-old Royal Bond.
The track also hosts racing on Monday evening and the going remains good.
Trainer Con Collins and jockey Pat Shanahan share a double. Eurovision, 7/4 favourite, wins division two of the seven furlong maiden. Later, Kokoschka wins the two mile St Comans Handicap.
Mrs Anne Brewster, once one of the country’s leading owners, has her colours worn to victory today by Mr John Berry, as Truly wins the bumper.
Before this meeting, there are fears that the Sunday fixture might detract from the attendance tonight, but that does not happen. The Tote aggregate this evening is £53,398, which is over £12,000 higher than last year’s figure.
Treacy bags a double: The going is officially good at Mallow on Monday evening.
Despite having a training licence for more than 60 years, Willie Treacy has never trained two winners on the same card – until this evening. It starts in the opening mares maiden hurdle with victory for About Change. Later, Gleaming Treasure wins the Blackwater Handicap at 12/1.
After their five-timer on Saturday, Dermot Weld and Michael Kinane have a winner this evening when Too Phar takes the Mallow Handicap at 7/4 favourite.
Despite being absent off the course for more than two years due to injury, the 12-year-old Champion Prince starts the Madden TV Rentals Novice Chase at 11/4 favourite, and wins by four lengths. The gelding has had injury problems, but his CV includes one bumper and three hurdle wins. He is now owned and trained by Clonee permit holder Gervaise Maher. Tom McCourt is in the saddle this evening.
There is also racing at Mallow on Tuesday evening and the going changes to good to firm.
Roscommon Monday, Mallow Tuesday. But it’s no problem for Eurovision, and the three-year-old colt wins again tonight by taking division one of the Glengarriff Handicap, again ridden by Pat Shanahan.
After a respectable sixth place in the Irish 1000 Guineas, Bees Nest, owned by Major Victor McCalmont, is the 1/2 favourite for the Kinsale Fillies Race, and she wins easily by three lengths. Michael Kauntze trains the filly, and she is ridden by Donal Manning.
Ballydoyle treble: At Phoenix Park on Wednesday evening, the going is officially good. After taking a drubbing last Saturday, things are better for the bookmakers, as none of the six races are won by the favourite.
Pat Eddery has a treble, winning the last three races on the card, and two of these are trained by Vincent O’Brien, thus showing the world that rumours of the demise of Ballydoyle are grossly exaggerated.
The feature race tonight is the Woodpark Stud Race, over a mile and a quarter, worth £7,302. Eddery is on Euphrates, who is well behind turning into the straight, but they gradually make up ground, and pass the post a head in front of Centenary. The winner is 8/1. Later, Eddery and O’Brien win the concluding fillies race with Acushla.
The Eddery winner not from Ballydoyle is Redeem Herself, winner of the six furlong handicap. This 5/1 winner is trained by John Oxx.
Reporter Dave Baker writes that, despite the double this evening, Ballydoyle will not have any runners at Royal Ascot, and will probably not have any runners at the Budweiser Irish Derby meeting. Baker also tells of a racegoer, whom he describes as “slightly under the weather”, walking down the grand stand steps after the last race and saying: “I wish I had that (expletive deleted) virus.”
Oaks memories: Jonathan Powell’s article from England this week is about the Oaks at Epsom last Saturday. It is won by Midway Lady, also winner of the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.
The daughter of Alleged starts at 15-8 favourite. Ray Cochrane sends her into the lead in the final furlong to beat Untold by a length, with Maysoon three-quarters of a length back in third, and Colorspin fourth. Second, third and fourth are all trained by Michael Stoute.
Midway Lady has only been beaten once in her career. That was on her debut at Yarmouth last August, actually beaten by Untold.
Midway Lady is trained at Newmarket by Ben Hanbury. Powell discloses a personal interest, stating that he and Hanbury attended the same school, and stating that it is Hanbury who is primarily responsible for Powell developing an interest in racing, including visits to the Letcombe Bassett stables of Hanbury’s father, trainer Captain Tim Hanbury. “A golden morning on the downs above Lambourn watching horses at exercise followed by an afternoon at the races and a weekend meeting people who actually rode and trained horses for a living changed the course of my life irretrievably.”
More good news for Hanbury is that he backed Midway Lady for the Oaks last year at 100/1; and more good news for Powell is that, after the Oaks, Hanbury sends a case of champagne to the press room.
Brilliant Bering triumphs: Desmond Stoneham’s weekly report from France is on page nine and the big story is from last Sunday at Chantilly. The French Derby (Prix du Jockey Club) goes to Bering, a son of Arctic Tern. He breaks the course record to defeat Altayan and Bakharoff, and Stoneham writes that the winner “did not have to extend himself.” He calls Bering “the best colt in Europe.”
Afterwards, Criquette Head says: “That is the best horse I have ever trained.” Gary Moore is the winning jockey, and says: “Bering is easily the best horse I have ever ridden.” It’s a family affair, as Bering was bred by her father, Alec Head, and carries the colours of his wife Ghislaine.
Before the race, rumours abound that Bering has had a mishap. The rumour is believed to have started in England, but Stoneham writes that this rumour has Irish origins. He says that it started at a breakfast at Woodcote Park, attended by “a leading Irish trainer, a racing manager, and a bookmaker’s PR.”
Later in the week, writes Stoneham, it is confirmed that Bering will not go to the Irish Derby, and will have the Prix Niel in September as a prep race for the Arc De Triomphe.
In other French news, Stoneham reports that in the French Champion Hurdle on June 27th, Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Dawn Run will be ridden by French jockey Michel Chirol. The 41-year-old has ridden over four hundred winners.
Irish Derby: Neville Ring, in his column, looks at the published list of acceptors for the Budweiser Irish Derby later this month. There are 139 horses in the list, and Ring notices that “only a half dozen could be termed Irish-owned.” Sheikh Mohammed owns 18, and the Aga Khan has three, including his Epsom Derby winner Shahrastani. Also in the list is Epsom runner-up Dancing Brave, one of eight owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah.
Ring calculates that, so far, owners have paid £272,500 in entry fees, and there is still one more £150 to be forked out “if declared to run”. The new sponsors are putting in £250,000, therefore the advertised value of the race, £450,000, will be well exceeded.
Claire Barry, in her weekly Inside Track column, also mentions the Budweiser Irish Derby. “The investment Budweiser is making in this year’s Irish Derby is quite astonishing” she writes, adding that Budweiser are also sponsoring the Kildare Derby Festival, which runs from Sunday, June 22nd to Monday, June 30th.