PATIENCE was at the very core of Sea Of Class’ victory in the Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Saturday.

The filly herself exercised patience in the extreme in delaying her birth until May 23rd May. And she didn’t race as a juvenile, her trainer William Haggas was happy to give her time. She didn’t make her racecourse debut until April this year.

Mrs Tsui’s filly was well-backed that day at Newmarket, at the Craven meeting, and she looked set to win too when she came with her run towards the outside and hit the front at the furlong marker. But Ceilidhs Dream just proved to be the stronger inside the final 100 yards.

The Sea The Stars filly made no mistake next time in a listed race at Newbury. Again well-backed, she was seriously impressive in coming with her run from the rear and towards the outside. She picked up Athena inside the final furlong and came away under just a hands-and-heels ride by James Doyle – same as on Saturday then – and Athena, the subsequent Grade 1 Belmont Oaks winner, was in turn clear of the rest.

Then there was the Oaks conundrum: would she, wouldn’t she? The initial vibe was that she wasn’t going to run, then the vibe was that she might, then the rains came and she didn’t. There’s that patience again.

It was a fair call by William Haggas, to leave an Oaks hanging, a race for which she probably would have been sent off as second favourite. Haggas spoke during the Oaks preamble about her lack of experience, about how Epsom might all be a bit too much for her at that stage of her career, after just two races.

EPSOM

You always got the feeling that, in his gut, Haggas thought that the best course of action was to circumvent Epsom and go somewhere else, maybe to Royal Ascot, to the Ribblesdale Stakes, maybe to the Irish Oaks. Even when the vibe was that she might run, you still sensed that Haggas didn’t think that it was for the best, that she might get away with it was his dominant sentiment.

The Epsom rain was probably a welcome relief for the trainer. It made the decision to eschew Epsom easier to make, and you sensed that he knew that it was the correct decision.

Another roll followed in another listed race at Newbury, where she was impressive, tail-swishing or not tail-swishing. But Saturday was another matter, an Irish Oaks, from listed race into Group 1 company, and trying a mile and a half for the first time.

There may have been only seven runners, but Saturday’s Irish Oaks was a strong Irish Oaks. You had the Oaks winner and Pretty Polly runner-up, the Oaks third and Blue Wind Stakes winner, the Oaks fourth and Ribblesdale Stakes winner and a handful of progressive fillies who had the potential to step up.

Magical would have added ballast, and you were missing Wild Illusion, runner-up in both the Oaks and the Ribblesdale, but you had the two fillies who had beaten her in those two races.

Sea Of Class had to step forward again to win on Saturday and she did. She put up another career best. If she was under the care of a less patient trainer, she could have run in the Oaks at Epsom, finished fourth or fifth and the momentum bubble would have been deflated. Start again.

It was a big day for William Haggas, an Irish Oaks win, seven years after he won the Oaks with Dancing Rain, to go with his Pretty Polly Stakes win with Urban Fox just three weeks previously.

The Curragh has been a happy hunting ground for the Yorkshireman this summer so far.

SEA Of Class was the diamond in a golden hour for William Haggas on Saturday. The trainer had five runners in the space of 65 minutes, between 5.10pm and 6.15pm, at five different tracks – Newmarket, Newbury, the Curragh, Haydock, Lingfield – and all five won.