By Tom Frary
Outbattled at Newmarket, The Aga Khan's Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) returns to The Curragh for what could prove ample compensation in Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas. Unable to provide Dermot Weld with that elusive 1000 Guineas victory, the G1 Moyglare S.-winning TDN Rising Star bids to give her trainer a sixth of these. “She was a bit tired after the race, but she travelled home on the ferry and came home well and then she has picked up nicely and we've been pleased with her,” her trainer said. “It was a massive performance.”
Meditate Looks For Revenge
Well adrift of Tahiyra in the 1000 Guineas, it will be interesting to see if Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) can get closer than in the Moyglare when she trailed her by 2 1/4 lengths on contrasting ground. Her subsequent success in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf showed how deadly she can be when the surface rides fast and she would not be the first Ballydoyle representative to come from an unplaced effort at Newmarket and return to winning ways in a Curragh equivalent. “Meditate is very classy, has always been very good, and everything has gone very well with her since Newmarket,” O'Brien said. “She didn't have a real clear run through the whole winter into the spring.”
Out Of The Silence
If Tahiyra and Meditate take prominence here, then Moyglare Stud's homebred Eternal Silence (War Front) has a squeak given that she was still a maiden when third behind them in the race named after her owner-breeder's operation. From the Jessie Harrington stable which can do no wrong at present, the daughter of the G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Princess Highway (Street Cry {Ire}) has the scope to have progressed markedly in the interim. “It's been a frustrating Spring with Eternal Silence, as she was meant to run in a few maidens but due to going we didn't run her,” Kate Harrington explained. “She goes there in great form. She was a big filly last season and she's really filled her frame out over the winter. She was a good third in the Moyglare last year behind Tahiyra and Meditate, has had a few racecourse gallops and we got there hopeful of a big run.”
Bernick At The Double
Craig Bernick's colours will be carried by both the Fozzy Stack-trained Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify) and You Send Me (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), with the latter in joint-ownership with Cayton Park Stud and Linda Shanahan. She was taking on the older horses and colts when second in the G3 Amethyst S. at Leopardstown earlier this month, so has had an unusual prep but is not far off the principals on ratings.
French Classic Winners Back At The Fore
In the card's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, The Aga Khan's Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) looks to fend off Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) and Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in what promises to be a blockbuster. Last year's G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Eclipse S. hero has a run in the G1 Prix Ganay under his belt and unlike that race's third Bay Bridge may prefer this drier ground. “He has, in the past, liked this sort of fast-ish ground so he should be fine,” the owner-breeder's French racing and breeding manager Georges Rimaud said. “The horse is doing well, he has improved from his last race.” At Saint-Cloud, the G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Nassau S. heroine Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is back in the G2 Prix Corrida as she kickstarts a 4-year-old campaign that promises to be a bold one.
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