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An Interesting Irish Weekend

3 minute read

Not surprisingly it rained on the Saturday and was cloudy on the Sunday.

BLUESTOCKING (right, pink/green silks) winning the Pretty Polly Stakes at Curragh in Kildare, Ireland.
BLUESTOCKING (right, pink/green silks) winning the Pretty Polly Stakes at Curragh in Kildare, Ireland. Picture: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

This meant that by the time of the International on Saturday the going was downgraded to Yielding to Soft and on Sunday for the Railway it was still Yieliding but got upgraded to Good in time for the Derby.

Saturday's features started with the Airlie Stud G2 which saw Truly Enchanting hold out California Dreamer and January, another O'Brien, got third at 6/1.

Jan Brueghil had to work hard to win the International but while he didn't quite justify the odds-on quote he did show that his 8 lengths debut win wasn't a fluke and that there was a good horse in the making here who has a bit more than just speed to him.  It was a tight photo with Joseph O'Briens Trustyourinstinct who had to settle for second and Ecureuil Secret 14/1 was third ahead of Bolster. 

The Pretty Polly was a great win for Bluestocking about whom our colleague Laura Martin had written a lovely piece with her relationship with her South African groom Eric.

Eric's devotion has paid off together with a great ride from Rossa Ryan, not to mention trainer Ralph Beckett, with an excellent win.  Emily Upjohn was her usual courageous self taking second and Content 12/1 ran third.

Sunday started off with the G2 Railway Stakes G2 which announced Henry Matisse as another future Coolmore star.  The Striking Viking struck second and Arizona Blaze third.

The Derby itself was an interesting replay of the Epsom version (without that winner) and this time Los Angeles reversed the placings with Ambiente Friendly who was third here after Sunway got between him and the winner.   Matsuri provided lots of positives in running fourth and should pick up some decent races through the summer and autumn.

The King George and the St Leger are the two nig ticket races that could loom in the future for Los Angeles but connections are not convinced that he would be a St Leger horse so we will have to wait on that.


Racing and Sports

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