By Tom Frary
Capping a memorable evening's racing at The Curragh for Ken Condon, the 66-1 outsider Laws of Indices (Ire) (Power {GB}) brought up a rare group 2 double for the stable in Saturday's G2 GAIN Railway S. Anchored in last early by Chris Hayes, the June 23 Navan maiden winner travelled strongly through the pack to lead with 1 1/2 furlongs remaining before seeing off the determined challenge of Lucky Vega (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) to win by half a length, with Arctician (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) 2 3/4 lengths behind in third. “I was almost expecting it with Romanised, but it just goes to show the quality of every maiden in Ireland, they can all be strong races,” Condon said. “He's a horse that always struck us as nice and he's well entered-up which we don't do lightly. He gave us the impression he would get better with every run and we've not been searching for anything in his fast work at home.”
Laws of Indices had been 80-1 when around six-lengths ninth to Lucky Vega on debut at Naas June 8 and had already made a significant leap forward when accounting for seven rivals including the subsequent Leopardstown winner Vafortino (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) in his auction maiden over five furlongs and 164 yards at Navan. There was no fluke about this display, with the style of his move between runners catching the eye before his rallying effort as the Jessie Harrington runner loomed on his outer in the closing stages. “He's come in here on the improve,” Condon added. “At Naas he was in the gates quite a bit, was slowly away and maybe didn't handle the ridges. He took a lot from it and gained a bit of experience. Then he went on to Navan on soft ground and a furlong out you'd say he would be fourth, but he hit the line very well there. Chris gave him a lovely ride today and he'll get seven furlongs, so that might have been the winning of it. Nine times out of 10, that move that Shane [Foley] made [on Lucky Vega] would win the race but I'd told Chris he'd stay well and he was able to react when that horse came to him. I suppose we'll think about the [G1] Phoenix, but that dead ground here helped and the six of the Phoenix might be a different test. We'll see how he comes out of it, but he'd need to be running before the [G1] National S.”
Another bargain buy, Law of Indices is out of the speedy Sampers (Ire) (Exceed and Excel (Aus) who was just below black-type level. She is a granddaughter of the G2 Prix de Malleret winner Privity (Private Account), a full-sister to the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud runner-up Zindari from the family of the G1 Irish St Leger hero and sire Leading Counsel. This is also the family of the dual G3 John O'Gaunt S. winner and G1 July Cup runner-up Main Aim (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and the triple group-winning Weightless (GB) (In The Wings {GB}).
Saturday, Curragh, Ireland
GAIN RAILWAY S.-G2, €80,000, Curragh, 7-18, 2yo, 6fT, 1:14.49, yl.
1–LAWS OF INDICES (IRE), 131, c, 2, by Power (GB)
1st Dam: Sampers (Ire), by Exceed and Excel (Aus)
2nd Dam: Gujarat, by Distant View
3rd Dam: Privity, by Private Account
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (€8,000 Ylg '19 GOAUTY). O-Miss C R Holmes; B-N Hartery (IRE); T-Ken Condon; J-Chris Hayes. €48,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $71,065. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Lucky Vega (Ire), 131, c, 2, Lope de Vega (Ire)–Queen of Carthage, by Cape Cross (Ire). (€110,000 Wlg '18 GOFNOV; €175,000 Ylg '19 GOFOR). O-Zhang Yuesheng; B-Kilcarn Stud (IRE); T-Jessica Harrington. €16,000.
3–Arctician (Ire), 131, c, 2, Dark Angel (Ire)–Atlantic Drift (GB), by Oasis Dream (GB). (£70,000 Ylg '19 GOFFPR). O/B-Newsells Park Stud Ltd (IRE); T-Paddy Twomey. €8,000.
Margins: HF, 2 3/4, HD. Odds: 66.00, 3.00, 8.50.
Also Ran: Merchants Quay (Fr), To Glory (GB), Eastern Voice (Ire), Forest of Dreams (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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