There’s more top-class racing on Sunday’s Curragh card as the best two-year-old fillies clash in the Moyglare Stud Stakes over seven furlongs.
This looks an excellent renewal and, as per usual, Aidan O’Brien holds all the aces from his strong-looking juvenile crop.
We backed Clemmie at Royal Ascot to no avail, however this full sister to dual-Guineas winner Churchill has since gone on to land back-to-back Group races and start to fulfil the promise of her purple blood.
Connections were quoted saying Clemmie wouldn’t run in this race if it were soft ground – and it isn’t far off – so it’s interesting she’s declared and has Ryan Moore in the saddle.
They must think she’s something special as she’s yet to clash with her three stablemates September, Magical and Happily – and they look very good.
All three ran over course and distance in August and Magical landed the pot from Happily, with September only fourth.
Jockey bookings were inconsistent with the result that day as number one rider Ryan Moore placed second, and number two Seamie Heffernan fourth.
It was an odd result but an impressive performance from the winner, who is vying for favouritism with Clemmie, and Donnacha O’Brien keeps the ride.
Plenty of rain has got into the ground at Curragh this week so it’s likely conditions will be very similar, and it might be easy to blame the rain last time on September’s defeat and conclude conditions here are a negative for her chances, however at 7/1 I’m not prepared to give up on her.
She was so, so impressive at Royal Ascot and her beating of Nyaleti and Masar reads oh-so well now those two have emphatically won next time out.
That was on rattling fast ground but there’s very little in her breeding to suggest she wants it that way, as she’s out of a heavy-ground Irish Oaks winner and by Japanese super-sire Deep Impact, whose progeny have won plenty of Group races on similar going.
O’Brien has his own way of training his horses and his best two-year-old fillies are trained to peak for the late-season Group One races like this and those at Newmarket and on the Arc card.
The run last time won’t have been the main target so we can expect an improved show – comments that apply to all three of the fillies – and I’d expect the form to be shaken up tomorrow.
There are others in there with chances – namely Alpha Centauri who ran a blinder in defeat at Royal Ascot – but September looks the one to be on at the prices.
1pt win September @7/1, 15:40 Curragh, Sunday
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