2011

GER Lyons made his mark at Newmarket as lightening Pearl stayed on stoutly to foil Sunday Times by half a length in the Jaguar Cars Cheveley Park Stakes. It was his first success at Group 1 level, and the filly hinted at even better things to come next year.

The race was tinged with sadness as Sajwah led but came under pressure and lost her action. It transpired that she had broken her pelvis and she was put down. Her strong early gallop meant that 11/8 favourite Best Terms was unable to dominate, but she was beaten before the furlong pole in any case.

Lightening Pearl, kept in close contention by Johnny Murtagh, took it up with two furlongs to go and went clear. She was always going to hold on, although Peter Chapple-Hyam’s Sunday Times, coming from well off the pace, closed all the way to the line and belied her 33/1 starting price. Sajwah’s stable companion Angels Will Fall kept on steadily in third, followed by Miss Work Of Art and Best Terms.

Lyons, with considerable input from Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud, is supported by Lightening Pearl’s owner, the 23-year-old Qatari billionaire investor Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, who runs his horses under the Pearl Bloodstock banner, and is advised by David Redvers.

The Sheikh and Lyons also happen to have Murtagh on their side – quite an advantage because the jockey just happens to have ridden 99 winners at the highest level in his long and illustrious career. “I rode Ger’s first winner in 1994, his first listed winner, first Royal Ascot winner, and now his first at Group 1 level,” said Murtagh. “There was a lot of pressure on, especially with a new owner coming into the yard and owning this filly.”

Supplemented

Lightning Pearl was supplemented for the Cheveley Park after winning a Group 3 very easily last time. She also has form against Aidan O’Brien’s 1000 Guineas favourite Maybe, and is no bigger than 20/1 (and 16/1 in several places) for the fillies’ classic herself.

“I am now getting horses I would never have dreamed of having before,” said Lyons. “It was a no-brainer to supplement her after she won the Round Tower at the Curragh, because you just don’t win Group 3 races in Ireland by five lengths.”

“She was the only one we bought at Goffs,” added Sheikh Fahad, whose Frederick Engels gave him his first Royal Ascot success in June. “We have 45 horses now and we go for quality rather than quantity. Ger did a magnificent job with the filly.”

[Lightening Pearl, by Marju, was purchased at Goffs as a yearling for €125,000, and was bred by Castlemartin Stud and Skymarc Farm. She ran just twice at three, unplaced on both starts. Her first three named foals all won, including the Group 3 Athasi Stakes winner Lightening Quick, a daughter of Frankel.

The first Group 1 winner for her stakes-winning dam Jioconda, Lightening Pearl’s full-brother Satono Crown went one better, winning a Group 1 in Japan and the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase.

The filly Lightening Pearl beat at Newmarket, Sunday Times (Holy Roman Emperor), went on at stud to breed there winners also, and they include the stakes winner Classical Times (Lawman) and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Newspaperofrecord (Lope De Vega).

Coincidentally, both Lightening Pearl and Sunday Times had filly foals in 2021 by Kingman (Invincible Spirit) who stands at Banstead Manor Stud]

Prendergast’s winning streak continues on

1961

PADDY Prendergast continued his all-conquering raids on two-year-old races in England when Display easily disposed of her rivals in the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday.

Ron Hutchinson did not need to release an inch of rein on the long-striding chesnut, who beat newcomer West Side Story by two lengths. Display thus ended her first season with four victories in five runs, and it must be remembered that she was unlucky in that sole defeat in the Prix Morny at Deauville.

English racegoers will next see this splendid filly in the 1000 Guineas, and Prendergast is confident that the mile will not be too far for her. This £5,507 prize set a record for Prendergast, who has now passed his previous best total of prize money won in England, £38,000, by some £4,800.

[Display, a daughter of Rustam and Review, won once at three, taking the one-mile Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. She was runner-up in the 1000 Guineas to Abermaid. At stud she had just two foals, the colt Poseur (Alcide) who was placed, and the filly No Display (Meadow Court), a winner and fourth in the Group 2 Nassau Stakes when that got you blacktype.

No Display bred the US stakes winner Dancing Display (Dancer’s Image), and is third dam of a pair of blacktype winners in Australia, Cocinero (Encosta De Lago) on the flat, and Spanish Symbol (Personal Flag) over fences]

Mistaken finish proves costly

1961

LISTOWEL’S annual three-day fixture, which concluded on Thursday evening, attracted the customary large numbers of racing regulars and late holidaymakers, who make this Co Kerry reunion a must year after year.

The feature race of the fixture, Wednesday’s Kerry National, provided a highly interesting struggle throughout, and the outcome was a narrow win for Mr G.A.J. Wilson’s San Marco, trained by George Wells and ridden by Bobby Coonan.

Unusual

There was an unusual happening to the favourite here, Royal Moon. After jumping the second fence in the straight, with a complete circuit of the track still to cover, Royal Moon’s jockey, J.J. Rafferty, under the impression that this was the final time round, proceeded to ride a finish, and it was only when he has passed the ‘winning post’ that he realised his mistake.

By then it was too late, the others having gone on. Afterwards Rafferty said: “I was called before the stewards and they fined me £20.”

Murder at Dublin Zoo

1956

WHEN Mr Maxie Cosgrove, veterinary surgeon, telephoned me to ask where he could get reliable otterhounds for the Dublin Zoo, I thought it was a strange request. That is until I learnt that they were needed for work, and not for exhibition.

Fourteen race birds, valued at £300, had been killed in four days, and everything pointed to the destruction being the work of an otter. The chances of a fox or a killer dog getting into the zoo were remote, whereas an otter might get access through one of the many underground streams leading to and from the lakes and ponds.

This is probably the most exacting task these otterhounds have ever tackled. They have to depend entirely on their noses, but it will be almost impossible for them to find the scent of an otter in an area inhabited by lions, monkeys, polar bears, camels, elephants and other animals.

Otters have been seen in the vicinity of the zoo, and in the nearby lake in the Phoenix Park, while they are probably very numerous in the River Liffey on the southern boundary of the park.