Up surge lands Blandford
Sunday 9 September 2012
Up snatched victory from Caponata in the dying strides of the Irresistible Jewel Blandford Stakes at the Curragh to deny the Dermot Weld team a quick double following the victory of Famous Name.
Manieree made a brave effort to repeat last year's victory in this Group Two contest and led until inside the final furlong, where Caponata ranged menacingly alongside before taking over.
But it was the Aidan O'Brien-trained Up, ridden by his son Joseph, who just took the honours from her fellow 3-1 joint-favourite by a short head. Nahrain, trained by Roger Varian at Newmarket, stayed on well to grab third place.
O'Brien said: "She's a tough filly. I thought a mile and a quarter is as far as she'd want and she just made it.
"She's a filly for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf in America and I'm not sure she'd definitely have another run before as she's had a busy time."
Varian said of Nahrain "She ran a much better race today. If she hadn't shown anything today she was probably telling us something, but that gives me much more encouragement and she could be right there in the autumn.
"I might look at something like the big fillies' race at Woodbine."
Comments
Please sign in to post a comment.