By Tom Frary
Saturday's G2 City of York Stakes was primed for an upset with its dual winner Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) withdrawn and the exciting 3-year-old Lake Forest (GB) (No Nay Never) also exiting stage left after becoming upset in the stalls and so it proved with Breege (GB) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) delivering the surprise outcome at 33-1.
Without a win since capturing Epsom's G3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes over an extended mile, the John and Sean Quinn-trained Chasemore Farm homebred benefitted from a suicidal pace up front to come through under Colin Keane a furlong out and score by 1 1/2 lengths from the 22-1 shot Vafortino (Ire) (New Bay {GB}).
Any thoughts that Breege was only able to truly excel on undulating tracks, having registered a career-best success at Epsom and finished runner-up in Goodwood's G3 Prestige S. at two and G3 Oak Tree Stakes at three, were dispelled here on this flat terrain. “Beforehand we were basically riding to be third and trying to pick up as much prize-money as possible. I thought we'd pick up as much as we could and we got the lot,” Keane said.
Sean Quinn added, “We worked her on Monday morning and she worked particularly well, John said that was the best he's ever seen her work. This probably wasn't the plan at that stage, but he said we'll take her down the road as there's a heap of money on offer and we're going to try to get as much of it as we can. She was our first group winner since we joined the licence and to do that today is pretty special. She's very important to the yard and it's important to be competitive on the big days. She's not in the Foret, but we might have to speak to her owners about supplementing her for it.”
A great finish to the @SkyBet City Of York Stakes, where Breege flew from the back of the pack to come home and take the top prize! 🔥 @ctkjockey | @johnquinnracing pic.twitter.com/EEqU1wlRMw
— York Racecourse (@yorkracecourse) August 24, 2024
Pedigree Notes
Breege's dam Wowcha (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) is kin to three group winners headed by the stable's Starspangledbanner-sired G1 Prix Morny and G2 Coventry S. hero The Wow Signal (Ire). The others are last year's G2 Airlie Stud S.-winning TDN Rising Star Matrika (Ire) (No Nay Never) and her G3 Fukushima Kinen-winning and G1 Takarazuka Kinen-placed full-brother Unicorn Lion (Ire), while another half-sibling is the listed scorer and G2 Rockfel S.-placed Miss Infinity (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) who in turn produced the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon runner-up Make Me King (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Wowcha, who is also related to the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Ta Rib (Mr. Prospector), has the unraced 3-year-old full-brother to Breege named Circuit Champion (GB), a 550,000gns purchase by the Hong Kong Jockey Club at Tattersalls October Book 2.
Saturday, York, Britain
SKY BET CITY OF YORK STAKES-G2, £500,000, York, 8-24, 3yo/up, 7fT, 1:24.09, g/f.
1–BREEGE (GB), 131, f, 4, by Starspangledbanner (Aus)
1st Dam: Wowcha (Ire), by Zoffany (Ire)
2nd Dam: Muravka (Ire), by High Chaparral (Ire)
3rd Dam: Tabdea, by Topsider
O/B-Chasemore Farm (GB); T-John & Sean Quinn; J-Colin Keane. £283,550. Lifetime Record: 17-3-6-2, $586,612. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Vafortino (Ire), 134, g, 6, New Bay (GB)–Arbaah, by Invasor (Arg). (€48,000 Wlg '18 GOFNOV; €60,000 Ylg '19 GOFOR; 28,000gns RNA HRA '21 TATAHI). O-Venice Consulting S A & Gilberto Gambini; B-China Horse Club (IRE); T-Kevin P De Foy. £107,500.
3–Shouldvebeenaring (GB), 134, c, 4, Havana Grey (GB)–Lady Estella (Ire), by Equiano (Fr). (£40,000 Ylg '21 GOFFUK). O-Middleham Park Racing XVIII; B-Whitsbury Manor Stud (GB); T-Richard Hannon. £53,800.
Margins: 1HF, HD, 1. Odds: 33.00, 22.00, 8.50.
Also Ran: Audience (GB), Art Power (Ire), Fivethousandtoone (Ire). Scratched: Kinross (GB), Lake Forest (GB).
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