Performance Review
May 2018
May continued the good start we made to the season with Bloomfield winning another Listed contest and we doubled our tally of winners.
On number of winners trained we are currently sixth and that’s from significantly less runners than the trainers ahead of us so we are pleased with how the first couple of months of the 2018 season have gone.
Bloomfield’s success in the Vintage Tipple Stakes at Gowran on 9 May was the highlight of the month for us. It was her first try at a mile and six furlongs but she handled the trip easily and Billy Lee thinks she could go even further. However the aim now is to win a Group race with Bloomfield and we are looking at the Munster Oaks over 12 furlongs in Cork for her next. She’s a homebred filly for her owner John Connaughton and her dam is a half-sister to the top-class sprinter and broodmare Cassandra Go so it would be excellent for her career as a broodmare if she can add a Group win to her CV.
She likes a bit of cut in the ground so with the weather forecast to change this week, it should come in time for Bloomfield’s run in the Munster Oaks.
The highlight of the month, Bloomfield makes easy work of the Vintage Tipple Stakes at Gowran.
There is another nice filly belonging to John in the yard called Excelling Spirit and she has finished second in both her starts. She is a daughter of Invincible Spirit out of Love Excelling, who is a half-sister to Oaks winner Love Divine so Excelling Spirit is another filly with a good pedigree. A three year-old, she made her debut at the Curragh over six fulongs on 11 May and filled the same position over that trip at Fairyhouse on 31 May. If she gets a bit of cut in the ground I think she will be hard to beat in her next race.
We were thrilled with Mazurri’s win at Gowran in the nine and half furlongs maiden on 30 May. That came 12 days after her debut at Cork when she was second over slightly longer. She is a nice three-year-old filly by Raven’s Pass owned by Britesavers and the target for her now is a winners of one race somewhere.
Patuano is another filly who runs in the Britesavers’ colours and she put up a good performance at the Curragh on Guineas’ weekend to win a six furlong handicap in the hands of Leigh Roche. She has won at three and again at four so hopefully we can keep going and get another win with her.
Tammy Wynette broke her maiden over five furlongs at Dundalk early in May and then went on to be third in a three-year-old handicap at Curragh over a furlong further. That was on heavy ground but it was great for her owner Frank Fahy that she has that win and she is a filly who is coming along nicely.
Thiswaycadeaux had a productive May with a third place at the Curragh in an apprentice handicap under Nathan Crosse on 11 May and she followed that up with victory over seven furlongs at the Curragh 11 days later. Billy Lee rode her that day and it was on yielding ground, she appreciates a bit of ease in the going so we will look for something for her when there is a bit of a cut in the ground again.
Lethal Promise, a lovely two-year-old filly owned by the Irish National Stud’s Racing and Breeding Club, has been twice in both her races so far. They were two good performances and we will try and find a nice maiden for her somewhere.
Wild As The Wind ran a cracker behind Sorelle Delle Rose in a seven furlong fillies and mares’ handicap at Gowran on 29 May. Once she gets an ease in the ground somewhere she is going to be a hard mare to beat.
Liquid Amber has recovered from her trip to Newmarket for the 1000 Guineas and we are aiming her at the Listed Oaks Trial at Naas towards the end of June. She will be stepping up in trip to ten furlongs for the first time but I think the extra distance will suit her.
There is plenty to look forward to during June with some new horses set to make their debuts. We’ve got a couple of nice two-year-old colts that we are hoping to run soon. Sea The Night is a lovely Born To Sea horse and I think he will go well with a bit of an ease in the ground while Montalvan is a son of Lope de Vega out of Shermeen, so he is a half-brother to Sudirman who won the Group One Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh in 2013 and Montalvan is a lovely colt.