Sunday 3 May 2015 11:20, UK
Irish trainers have not been as prolific in recent years in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas as they have been in the colts’ Classic.
There was no Irish-trained winner of the fillies’ Classic between 1975 and 1994, when the Tommy Stack-trained Las Meninas beat Balanchine by a very short head, and the RTE television coverage had to leave Newmarket for Punchestown before the result was known.
There have only been three Irish-trained winners since Las Meninas. Aidan O’Brien was responsible for two of them, Virginia Waters in 2005 and Homecoming Queen in 2012, while Jim Bolger provided the other, Finsceal Beo in 2007.
Bolger also provides the favourite for Sunday’s race in the form of Lucida. The daughter of Shamardal was among the best juvenile fillies last season. She was a little unlucky in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh in September when she got going a little too late and just failed by a neck to catch Cursory Glance, but she gained compensation when she landed the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket two weeks later.
There was a lot to like about that performance. It appeared as if she was in trouble when Kevin Manning moved her towards the near side and asked her to pick up, as Fadhayyil kicked for home on the far side. However, she finished strongly once she met the rising ground, and she powered through to get up and beat the Barry Hills-trained filly by a length.
The Rockfel is run over seven furlongs, but the manner in which the Godolphin filly finished off her race that day suggests that the extra furlong should be ideal. That is backed up by her breeding, a daughter of Shamardal out of a half-sister to Breeders’ Cup Turf winner English Channel. She should improve for the step up to a mile.
It is not a negative that she has not had a run yet this season, that she will be making her seasonal debut in the Guineas. Her trainer won the 2000 Guineas with Dawn Approach, who didn’t have a prep run, and he won the 1000 Guineas with Finsceal Beo, who was also making her seasonal debut in the Classic. Incidentally, Finsceal Beo also won the Rockfel Stakes as a juvnenile, the race in which Lucida impressed last year.
Qualify is the sole Balldoyle representative now in the absence of both Found and Together Forever. A daughter of Fastnet Rock, Qualify was only three and a half lengths behind Lucida in the Moyglare, and she bounced out of that race to land a Group 3 contest at The Curragh two weeks later. You can easily forgive her run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita in October, she missed the break and she was always playing catch-up, and the fact that Aidan O’Brien is allowing her take her chance in the Guineas is obviously significant.
David Wachman is double-handed. Queen Nefertiti impressed when winning her maiden at Leopardstown last June on her only run at two. However, it was a little disappointing that she was beaten at Dundalk last Friday, and her stable-companion Legatissimo is more interesting.
The Danehill Dancer filly was really impressive in landing the Listed Victor McCalmont Stakes at Gowran Park last Sunday. That was over nine and a half furlongs, and there is plenty of stamina in her pedigree, but she won her maiden over seven furlongs at the Galway Festival last July. She does not lack pace, and the fact that Ryan Moore has been booked for the ride is an obvious positive.
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