TDN RISING STARS

April 13, 2019 - Naas, Race 1, Cond-B, EUR €0, , 13.5000

Monarch of Egypt, C, 2, 2017 by American Pharoah

1st Dam: Up (Ire) (MGSW-Ire & G1SP-Fr, $379,468), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Halland Park Lass (Ire), by Spectrum (Ire)
3rd Dam: Palacegate Episode (Ire), by Drumalis (Ire)

Owner: Peter M Brant & Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith
Breeder: Ran Jan Racing, Inc. (KY)
Trainer: Aidan O'Brien

Naas’s opener on Saturday saw Ballydoyle and American Pharoah off the mark at the first attempt in the 2019 Irish flat turf season as Peter Brant and Coolmore’s 2-year-old colt Monarch of Egypt made virtually all to win in convincing style over five furlongs. Roused from the break by Ryan Moore to sit in the firing line, the $750,000 KEESEP graduate who was sent off the 9-10 favourite extended approaching the furlong pole and hit the line strong with 2 3/4 lengths to spare over Ming Warrior (Ire) (No Nay Never), with In the Present (Karakontie {Jpn}) 1 1/2 lengths behind in third. Aidan O’Brien was emitting notable enthusiasm for the landmark winner, a new TDN Rising Star. “You’d have to be excited about what we see at the moment,� he said. “Everything looks really right, but he was our first runner of the year so we didn’t really know what to expect. We’d be thinking of [Royal] Ascot, but he’ll have to run before then for experience. That’s what we always thought he was, an Ascot horse.�