By Tom Frary
Like Saturday's 2000 Guineas winner Notable Speech (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) introduced on the all-weather during the winter, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum's blueblood Elmalka (GB) (Kingman {GB}) arrived late on the scene to emerge triumphant in the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas and cause a second weekend surprise in Newmarket's mile Classics. Coming off her debut success at Southwell in late November to finish a staying-on third in the seven-furlong G3 Fred Darling S. at Newbury last month, the Roger Varian-trained daughter of the G1 Prix de l'Opera and GI Flower Bowl Invitational heroine Nahrain (GB) (Selkirk) and half-sister to Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) was last and detached early and looked to be struggling at times.
Cajoled along by Silvestre De Sousa, the 28-1 shot found some momentum on the wing and with the extra distance to cover powered home to reel in the likely winner Ramatuelle (Justify) in the last strides to become the second Newmarket-based Guineas winner on the weekend. Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) was the surprise package of the race, staying on strongly to get the mile well and oust the French raider in the shade of the post, but the pair had already been overrun by Elmalka who prevailed by a neck from last year's G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine, with Ramatuelle perhaps the weakest stayer of the three a short head behind in third. The result represented a notable double on the card for Kingman, with his potentially top-class Friendly Soul (GB) having captured the Listed Pretty Polly S.
Recently returned to these shores from Hong Kong, De Sousa was enjoying one of those twists of fate that often accompany these flagship races as he registered a belated Classic breakthrough. “I've been working hard behind the scenes and I'm still able to do it,” he said. “It's unbelievable, I've been trying to win a Classic for so long, so it's great to get one. Coming down into the dip I could see the horses in front weren't getting away from me and I hoped when I hit the rising ground she would pick up. She's still a bit green and inexperienced, but she ran a good race at Newbury and she's just learning. She's really tough and game.”
Elmalka, the first in these silks to win this since Ameerat (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire}) for Roger Varian's old boss Michael Jarvis in 2001, had hardly pulled up trees on the formbook at Southwell in a contest that had not worked out at all but the time figures spoke volumes suggested she had inherited much of her family's ability. Beaten two necks in the Fred Darling by Folgaria (Ire) (Due Diligence) and the re-opposing Regal Jubilee (GB) (Frankel {GB}) with their experience edge, she was just getting going in the closing stages and in hindsight ran the perfect eye-catching trial.
Cut adrift early, the homebred could only really be taken seriously as a contender passing the two-furlong marker, where De Sousa's tender encouragement began to pay dividends as Ramatuelle shook loose. Whether Aurelien Lemaitre went too soon on the TDN Rising Star at that point is open to debate, but 100 yards from the line it appeared the race's decisive move and it was only close home that she faltered and was swallowed up. At the line, less than a length covered the first five home, with the fourth and fifth Tamfana (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) and Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}) running big Diane and Oaks trials.
For Varian, whose first group 1 win came courtesy of Nahrain at ParisLongchamp in 2009, the result was far from unexpected. “It's not a surprise because I wouldn't have run her if I didn't think she was going to run well, but you don't come into these races thinking you're going to win,” he said. “She ran a big race at Newbury and she was as green as grass and credit to James Doyle who gave her a super ride that day. He got an education into her and she finished strongly. We weren't set on running in the Guineas that day, but the turnaround in the filly in the last fortnight has been quite incredible.”
“She's looked fantastic, she's eaten everything in front of her and she's worked well,” he added. “I was in two minds whether to run her because I didn't want to do the wrong thing by the filly, but that's why we're here, right, to have a go? I was thinking about the race at Epsom against the older fillies and then maybe missing Ascot and going to the Falmouth fresh. Anyway 'Plan A' has come off and we're delighted.”
“It's very special actually to train the winner for His Highness Sheik Ahmed Al Maktoum, who's supported me all of my career and supported Michael Jarvis before me. She's a homebred filly and out of Nahrain who was my first group one winner the first year I trained, winning the Prix de l'Opera. You can't get more special than that. But it's a team effort and these things don't happen by accident. It's a huge thrill and it hasn't quite sunk in.”
“She only won at Southwell, but credit to Michael Spence who rang me that day and said 'I think that filly will win the Guineas–she's clocked an unbelievable time for Southwell,” the winning trainer revealed. “I take that stuff with a pinch of salt, but that is gospel truth. We'll have to wait for the [G1] Coronation Stakes next and see whether she's a miler or will stay a mile and a quarter later on.”
Ramatuelle's trainer Christopher Head thought he had it wrapped up until the dying yards, but took the reversal with honour. “We needed to be humble today, as we were up against plenty of very nice fillies but she held her own and ran a very nice race,” he said. “I thought she would last home when she hit the rising ground and she has only been beaten a very few metres at the finish. The programme is still wide open for her–she can maybe go sprinting or stay at a mile. A mile is the limit of her stamina.”
Tamfana may have been the hard-luck story of the race and trainer David Menuisier was left wondering what if. “I have mixed feelings. She was the unluckiest filly in the race, but what can you do? The plan was to always to go to the French Oaks after today and she will still go there and she will have a good chance,” he said. “I don't really know what to say–you could run the race 100 times and 99 times she would win, but that's life. It was a matter of getting gaps and we didn't, which can happen. I'd like to be happy but I can't really as we came here to win the race. I can be happy as we know have a very good filly–everything was right except the result.”
Pedigree Notes
Elmalka, who becomes the fifth Classic winner for her sire, is the eighth foal out of the aforementioned Nahrain, whose son Benbatl went to the Derby instead of the Guineas despite finishing third in the G3 Craven S. Successful in three group 1 contests including the Dubai Turf, he was arguably at his best when winning the G2 Joel S. over this course and distance while Nahrain is also responsible for his triple listed-placed full-sister Fooraat (Ire).
Nahrain was the leading light out of the G2 Ribblesdale S. winner and G1 Oaks runner-up and G1 Irish Oaks third Bahr (GB) (Generous {Ire}) who is also the second dam of the three-times group-winning Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) and third dam of the G3 Palace House S. winner Far Above (Ire) (Farhh {GB}) and this year's TDN Rising Star Night Raider (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) who ran in the 2000 Guineas. Nahrain's 2-year-old colt by Frankel (GB) is named Sallaal (Ire), while she also has a yearling colt by Night Of Thunder (Ire).
1000 Guineas Stakes (G1)
1.610 m – 523.750 GBP – for 3yo mares
NewmarketElmalka (GB)
(Kingman- Nahrain , by Selkirk)
J : @SilvDSousa
T : Roger Varian
O :Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum
B : @godolphin pic.twitter.com/T1fF7obqOY— (@WorldRacing1) May 5, 2024
Sunday, Newmarket, Britain
QIPCO 1000 GUINEAS S.-G1, £523,750, Newmarket, 5-5, 3yo, f, 8fT, 1:37.05, gd.
1–ELMALKA (GB), 128, f, 3, by Kingman (GB)
1st Dam: Nahrain (GB) (G1SW-Fr, GISW-US, SW-Eng, GSP-Ire, $1,041,961), by Selkirk
2nd Dam: Bahr (GB), by Generous (Ire)
3rd Dam: Lady Of The Sea, by Mill Reef
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN, 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum; B-Godolphin (GB); T-Roger Varian; J-Silvestre De Sousa. £297,019. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-1, $388,420. *1/2 to Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), G1SW-Ger, G1SW-Aus, G1SW-UAE, MGSW-Eng, $7,853,165. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Porta Fortuna (Ire), 128, f, 3, Caravaggio–Too Precious (Ire), by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire). O-Medallion/S Weston/B Fowler/Reeves T'Bs; B-Whisperview Trading Ltd (IRE); T-Donnacha O'Brien. £112,606.
3–Ramatuelle, 128, f, 3, Justify–Raven's Lady (GB) (GSW-Ger, GSW-Eng, $238,499), by Raven's Pass.
TDN Rising Star. (€100,000 Ylg '22 ARAUG). O-Infinity 9 Horses/C W Knok; B-Yeguada Centurion SL (KY); T-Christopher Head. £56,356.
Margins: NK, SHD, HF. Odds: 28.00, 11.00, 4.50.
Also Ran: Tamfana (Ger), Ylang Ylang (GB), Rolica (Ire), Cinderella's Dream (GB), Fallen Angel (GB), Dance Sequence (GB), Pretty Crystal (Ire), Regal Jubilee (GB), See The Fire (GB), Sacred Angel (Ire), Darnation (Ire), Star Style (GB), Star Music (GB).
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