On paper it was going to take something special to beat Meditate in the 50th running of the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Dermot Weld-trained Tahiyra produced a breathtaking display to wow the Curragh crowds on Sunday.
A brilliant finish from Tahiyra sees her past favourite Meditate to take the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh
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The Galway maiden winner, carrying the colours of His Highness Aga Khan, whose family breeding operation began 100 years ago, looked like she might have to settle for second behind the Albany Stakes heroine but when the ultra-cool Chris Hayes asked her to pick up, the daughter of Siyouni scooted clear for a two-and-a-quarter-length win.
50/1 shot Eternal Silence finish third for the sponsors and trainer Jessica Harrington but it was a day to remember for Weld, who of course trains Tahiyra in the shadows of the Curragh’s famous Aga Khan Grandstand at Rosewell House.
Tahiyra has a lot to live up to as a half-sister of champion filly Tarnawa, who was also trained by Weld for the Aga Khan but as Hayes remarked, she is already one up on triple Group 1 winner.
“The first thing I said when I spoke to the boss in Galway when I got down off her was, ‘She could be one for the Moyglare,’ and he just said, ‘Easy, easy. Relax, relax. Bit of time to go yet,’” revealed Hayes.
“She’s always shown plenty at home and she’s a filly you could send her down with a lead horse and she’ll stay behind them or you could send them down with a good one rated 80 or 90 and she’ll stay behind that. She’s a pleasure to do anything with and she even had a buck and a squeal going down.
“She really enjoyed it. She moved well on the ground. She’s exciting. She’s bred to be good and thankfully she is.
“At the moment she’s better than her sister ‘cos she’s won her maiden at two and she’s a Group 1 winner. I actually won a maiden on Tarnawa as a three-year-old and won a Blandford here the same year. She’s terribly exciting and I’m very grateful to connections.
“The boss said to me the other day, ‘You’re confident she’s going to run a good race?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, definitely.’ I went home and I went, ‘Oh God I hope I’m right,’ and thankfully I was!”
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