Criterium de Saint-Cloud

(Group 1)

IRELAND 3 Rest Of Europe 0. That was the score from the final weekend of the continent’s juvenile Group 1 racing calendar, a weekend when Irish two-year-olds enjoyed a rare feeling of total domination.

At Doncaster last Saturday, Hotazhell and Delacroix kicked things off, when fighting out a titanic tussle at the head of the Futurity Stakes field.

At Saint-Cloud 24 hours later, first Tennessee Stud, the only Irish challenger in an emaciated field of three for the mile and two furlong Criterium de Saint-Cloud after the scratching of Ballet Slippers, got the job done following a few anxious moments halfway up the home straight, and then Twain, Mount Kilimanjaro and Apples And Bananas notched a 1-2-3 for the Emerald Isle in the Criterium International over a mile.

Tennessee Stud, runner-up to Hotazhell in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes four weeks earlier, looked in trouble when brought under strong pressure by Dylan Browne McMonagle with a furlong and a half to run, as for a while he was making no real impression on the lead of the front-running Green Storm.

It was only in the last 150 yards that victory started to look likely, though in the end the margin was a relatively comfortable length and a half, with nine lengths back to the other participant, Harvey.

Delighted

Winning trainer Joseph O’Brien was particularly delighted given that Tennessee Stud was bred by his mother, Annemarie, and the same family partnership could be in line for an even bigger moment this Saturday, as Porta Fortuna bids for her fifth and most prestigious top-level triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

“Dylan said that he was really struggling on that ground, never feeling comfortable at any stage,” Joseph reported. “I think it’s quite heavy. It’s only thanks to Tennessee Stud’s excellent attitude that he was able to fight so hard and get up near the line.”

“He’s from the family of Rock Of Gibraltar and it’s very special to win a Group 1 with a two-year-old my mum bred.

“He’s very big, so I’d imagine he’d be a better three-year-old. He’ll have a break and be trained with the Epsom Derby in mind when he comes back.”

Epsom is also the target for Green Storm, who for a while looked like he would give trainer Charlie Johnston and owner Ahmad Al Shaikh another victory in this race, two years on from Dubai Mile’s 2022 success.

“I thought that he was going to win, but then his effort flattened out,” Johnston said. “A mile and a quarter on such heavy ground looked to just stretch his stamina.”

Criterium International (Group 1)

AS far as next year’s classics are concerned, maybe the Criterium International will produce a more convincing candidate in the shape of Twain, who, like runner-up Mount Kilimanjaro, is trained by Joseph’s father, Aidan.

This was supposed to be the coronation of Maranoa Charlie as France’s Champion Two-Year-Old and the script played out as expected until passing the two-furlong marker. The unbeaten Christopher Head-trained colt adopted exactly the same tactics as in the Prix Thomas Bryon over this course and distance, soon gaining a clear lead and appearing to be travelling best as his rivals began to be niggled along rounding the home turn.

Then, all of a sudden, Charlie forgot his lines completely, as his response to jockey Aurelien Lemaitre’s request for more was a comprehensive ‘non’ when his three Irish-trained rivals loomed large in the wings.

Swept past

Twain, the choice of Ryan Moore out of the two Ballydoyle contenders, swept past, and though Mount Kilimanjaro gave determined chase, was still a length and a quarter to the good crossing the line, with Joseph O’Brien’s Apples And Bananas four and a quarter lengths further back in third and an even greater gap back to Maranoa Charlie in fourth.

Twain, whose grandam is a half-sister to Galileo and Sea The Stars, had been a total unknown until making his debut just eight days earlier when, sent off at 28/1 as the stable third string, he made every yard to land a Leopardstown maiden by six lengths.

“To ask him to go again so soon after his debut was probably unfair, but we only ran him last week in case what happened did happen, knowing that there was only one Group 1 opportunity left,” Aidan revealed afterwards.

Too soon

“Ryan said he was very green and got to the front too soon, but this race will have taught him a lot. He’s a very good mover, so he’d have to be better on faster ground.

“I was afraid this might be asking too much of him, but it was all that was left. He’s a Guineas horse for next year.”

The Coolmore stallion Wootton Bassett was responsible for not just the winner, but the third and fourth too, as well as for Tennessee Stud, meaning that he has now sired a record 10 individual juvenile pattern winners this season, and a remarkable tally of almost €3.1 million in two-year-old prize money.

Prix Royal - Oak (Group 1)

THE last French Group 1 of the campaign came later in the afternoon as Double Major atoned for his dismal non-staying effort in the two miles, four furlongs Prix du Cadran just three weeks earlier when landing the mile, seven furlongs and 110 yards Prix Royal-Oak for the second successive year for trainer Christophe Ferland and owner-breeders the Wertheimer brothers.

Much of the credit for the victory should go to jockey Maxime Guyon, who was quick to accept defeat as soon as the writing was on the wall in the Cadran, thus sparing Double Major a hard race.

Consequently, he had enough energy to get past the venerable British raider, Trueshan in the straight and collect a one and a quarter-length victory ahead of the mildly disappointing favourite, Sevenna’s Knight, who himself only overhauled Trueshan close home.

Ferland said that Double Major would try to avoid both Kyprios and extreme distances in 2025, picking out the Dubai Carnival as his likely starting off point.

THERE had been further Irish glory at Chantilly on Saturday, when the Johnny Murtagh-trained Oujda sprang a 12/1 surprise by defeating Ferland’s Tazara by a length and a half in the Group 3 Prix de Seine-et-Oise over six furlongs.

Back on the very testing ground upon which she had excelled when trained in France in her youth, the four-year-old daughter of Sioux Nation was following up a recent Curragh listed success when conditions were much faster.