By Tom Frary
Continuing Aidan O'Brien and Coolmore's incredible week, Content (Ire) put the icing on the cake on Thursday by bringing up the long-awaited 100th individual group 1 winner for the legendary Galileo (Ire) in the G1 Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks. Close to sealing that deal when an unlucky second to You Got To Me (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the G1 Irish Oaks last month, the daughter of the high-class sprinter Mecca's Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) was merely postponing the celebrations to this meeting at which her dam captured two editions of the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes.
Exhibiting her dam's high-octane energy soon after the break, the 3-1 favourite was a handful for Ryan Moore for most of the early stages anchored behind the leaders and the question was what would be left in reserve at the business end. With the smooth-travelling Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) looking the likely winner for much of the straight, Content was called upon to chase down the mare along with You Got To Me and found plenty towards the far side to get ahead inside the final furlong.
At the line, the historic feat was achieved by 3/4 of a length from You Got To Me, with a length back to the tiring Emily Upjohn. “Galileo is incredible, they are so honest and so genuine,” O'Brien said. “The mark he's going to leave on pedigrees is incredible, from generation to generation. She is a typical example of Galileo. Even if there's no more left, if their legs can move they put them out there and that's what she did.”
EIGHT wins in the Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks for Aidan O'Brien!
3/1 favourite Content lands the Group One feature on day two to continue a fine Ebor Festival for Ryan Moore and Ballydoyle 👏 @yorkracecourse pic.twitter.com/0LrkhppgKW
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 22, 2024
“Right to the end, Ryan said there was no stopping her. Ninety-nine per cent of thoroughbreds will get to that stage and hold up the flag, but Galileos don't,” O'Brien added. “They're so genuine and they could be tired today and come out the next day and still put up their best. It's a very unusual trait in an animal.”
Content, who started out racing over seven furlongs and had the pace to be a close fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, has been able to stretch out incrementally this term before truly hitting her stride over this distance. Time and again down the years Galileo had proven adept at producing strong-staying middle-distance performers from sprinting mares and it is testament to Aidan O'Brien that he has made an art form out of the training of types with such a contrast in the immediate pedigree.
“She has come forward since The Curragh and every time we have stepped her up in trip she has improved,” he added. “Ryan gave her an incredible ride, as she's not straightforward or easy. She has a lot of pace and he did an incredible job to get her relaxed. He was surprised, because she was so keen but she kept coming from the three-furlong marker.”
Of immediate targets, O'Brien was looking more at pace scenario than specific races. “She could go to an Arc or a Vermeille or to America. She's definitely going to be better where the pace is strong, wherever that is, as she is still racing in a gear too high,” he explained. “When she gets into a gear which has other horses out of their comfort zone, she will be comfortable and it will be amazing to see what she can do off that kind of pace.”
Ralph Beckett said of You Got To Me, “I think she was beaten by the better filly. The Irish Oaks form has been upheld and that is racing. I don't know what we'll do next. She's run well again and I suppose we'd have to look at the Fillies & Mares at Ascot on Champions Day. Whether we run somewhere else again first we'll have to see, but she was far more settled today which was a positive.”
John Gosden was happy that Emily Upjohn has come back to herself after some indifferent efforts and said, “I said after Goodwood I'd like to take the hood off her, which we did, and let her enjoy herself. She ran a lovely race, obviously we had the pacemaker besides us and they've gone a solid pace all the way and I think you do learn in life that giving nine pounds to improving 3-year-olds at this time of year is very difficult so it's notable that the Irish Oaks winner and second are first and second again.”
“The pacemaker did a good job for Ryan, but it did mean we were left on our own in front a long way out. The last furlong to home was quite a long way, but never forget the weight difference. She's run a valiant race, I'm very happy with her and she's coming back to her very best. We'll probably look at something like the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp in the middle of September. It's nice to se her show her true form again. It's taken her a long time to come back, but she's proven she is.”
Pedigree Notes
Content, who has etched her name into Coolmore legend with this historic delivery, is her dam's first group 1 winner but that tally will very possibly be doubled shortly with the stable's brilliant 2-year-old Bedtime Story (Ire) by Galileo's Frankel (GB) being prepared for the highest level after her Listed Chesham Stakes romp and G3 Silver Flash Stakes follow-up. Mecca's Angel is a full-sister to the G3 Chipchase Stakes and G3 Criterion Stakes-winning sire Markaz (Ire) and a granddaughter of the G3 Prix d'Arenberg winner Desert Dawn (GB) (Belfort {Fr}). Her 2024 foal is a full-sister to Bedtime Story.
Thursday, York, Britain
PERTEMPS NETWORK YORKSHIRE OAKS-G1, £533,750, York, 8-22, 3yo/up, f/m, 11f 188yT, 2:28.75, g/f.
1–CONTENT (IRE), 126, f, 3, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Mecca's Angel (Ire) (MG1SW-Eng, GSW-Ire, GSW & G1SP-Fr, $999,035), by Dark Angel (Ire)
2nd Dam: Folga (GB), by Atraf (GB)
3rd Dam: Desert Dawn (GB), by Belfort (Fr)
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Westerberg,Mrs J Magnier,M Tabor,D Smith; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. £302,690. Lifetime Record: GSW & MG1SP-Ire, 12-3-2-2, $636,469. *1/2 to Bedtime Story (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), GSW-Ire, SW-Eng, $122,347. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–You Got To Me (GB), 126, f, 3, Nathaniel (Ire)–Brushing (GB), by Medicean (GB). (62,000gns Wlg '21 TADEWE; 200,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-Valmont & Newsells Park Stud Bloodstock 24; B-Dullingham Park Stud & Sarabex (GB); T-Ralph Beckett. £114,756.
3–Emily Upjohn (GB), 135, m, 5, Sea The Stars (Ire)–Hidden Brief (GB), by Barathea (Ire).
TDN Rising Star. (60,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). O-Lloyd Webber, Tactful Finance, S Roden; B-Lordship Stud & Sunderland Holding Inc (GB); T-John & Thady Gosden. £57,432.
Margins: 3/4, 1, 3 3/4. Odds: 3.00, 4.50, 3.50.
Also Ran: Mistral Star (GB), Sea Theme (Ire), Lava Stream (Ire), Port Fairy (Ire), Queen Of The Pride (GB).
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