By Tom Frary
Proving yet again that Aidan O'Brien's second string is never to be discounted in pattern races, the 25-1 shot Merrily (No Nay Never–Caponata, by Selkirk) swooped to conquer in Friday's G3 Godolphin Lifetime Care Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket. Anchored in rear early by Wayne Lordan, the relative of Sunday's Arc heroine Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}) was a touch free early in response the switch in tactics from her latest fifth in the G3 Weld Park Stakes.
Saving her energy for the finale this time, the $325,000 Keeneland September graduate reeled in the 3-1 favourite and family relative Cathedral (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) with 150 yards remaining en route to a half-length success, with Flight (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) 3 1/4 lengths behind in third. Her win now makes it 13 in black-type races for Ballydoyle's juvenile fillies in 2024.
Off the mark over five furlongs at Naas in June and fourth in the Listed Marwell Stakes back over that course and distance the following month, Merrily had moved up to this seven-furlong trip to finish an unlucky third in Goodwood's G3 Prestige Stakes in August. Ridden positively in the Weld Park, she faded out of contention late prompting this change of tack which saw the kind of leap forward that has come to be expected of this stable's fledgling performers.
“She was very unlucky in Goodwood, she had to kind of jump two or three hurdles up the straight there,” O'Brien explained. “Wayne rode her the last day and thought it all went wrong then for him too, and he didn't get any cover and she did too much. That's why she was here. She's a fine, big filly and Wayne gave her a lovely ride today. She won very nicely and I think she is a Guineas filly now, looking at her. It will be interesting as she is a big, rangy filly with lots of class and she handles dig in the ground.”
At the end of a momentous week, Kia Joorabchian was on hand to witness the effort of Cathedral and said, “That was a big ask on her second start and her first time on turf. We asked her a big question and she has given it an amazing try. She is definitely next year's filly, but we had to give today a go because she was so well at home and we wanted to give her the experience on here, because she could be a Guineas filly. She has done us proud there and she's picked up with the winner and drawn clear of the third. It was a great run.”
A 25/1 Aidan O'Brien winner @Ballydoyle second-string causes a bit of a shock in the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes under Wayne Lordan.
What to make of that? ♂️@NewmarketRace | @godolphin pic.twitter.com/JwNHUO3N3s
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 11, 2024
Pedigree Notes
Merrily is the first black-type performer out of Caponata, who captured the Listed Naas Oaks Trial and Listed Victor McCalmont Memorial Stakes and was placed four times in group company including when second in the G2 Blandford Stakes. Bought out of the Juddmonte draft at the 2020 Tattersalls December Sale, she has a yearling colt by Charlatan and was bred back to that sire and to Practical Joke this year.
Caponata is a half to the G2 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes winner Brooch (Empire Maker), in turn responsible for the Kentucky Derby and Haskell hero Mandaloun (Into Mischief) and whose dam Daring Diva (GB) (Dansili (GB) is a full-sister to the G1 Matron Stakes heroine Emulous (GB). That mare achieved huge notoriety this term with her aforementioned daughter Bluestocking excelling in the ParisLongchamp showcase having already won the G1 Prix Vermeille there and the G1 Pretty Polly Stakes. Bluestocking's unraced half-sister War And Peace (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is the dam of this year's G3 Ballyogan Stakes runner-up Firebird (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), and more pertinently this race's runner-up Cathedral (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}).
Friday, Newmarket, Britain
GODOLPHIN LIFETIME CARE OH SO SHARP STAKES-G3, £65,000, Newmarket, 10-11, 2yo, f, 7fT, 1:25.53, g/s.
1–MERRILY, 128, f, 2, by No Nay Never
1st Dam: Caponata (MSW & MGSP-Ire, $162,144), by Selkirk
2nd Dam: Daring Diva (GB), by Dansili (GB)
3rd Dam: Aspiring Diva, by Distant View
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. ($325,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP). O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Lynch Bagles Ltd & Camas Park Stud (KY); T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Wayne Lordan. £36,862. Lifetime Record: 6-2-0-1, $73,748. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Cathedral (GB), 128, f, 2, Too Darn Hot (GB)–War And Peace (GB), by Frankel (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP TYPE. (110,000gns Ylg '23 TATOCT; €800,000 2yo '24 ARQBRU). O-Amo Racing Ltd; B-Exors of the Late Sir Robert Ogden (GB); T-Ralph Beckett. £13,975.
3–Flight (GB), 128, f, 2, Siyouni (Fr)–Run Wild (Ger), by Amaron (GB). O/B-Cornthrop Bloodstock Ltd (GB); T-Ollie Sangster. £6,994.
Margins: HF, 3 1/4, 1 1/4. Odds: 25.00, 3.00, 3.50.
Also Ran: Troia (GB), Ecstatic (Jpn), Mandurah (Ire), First Instinct (GB), Naina (GB), Magical Trail (GB), Miss Fascinator (Ire).
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