Bar One Racing Flying Five Stakes (Group 1)

KIA Joorabchian suggested earlier this season that the Curragh hadn’t been a lucky place for him, but what a difference a few months can make. Arizona Blaze gained a richly-deserved first Group 1 success for Amo Racing in the Bar One Racing Flying Five Stakes - meaning Joorabchian’s ownership operation has now won both of the Curragh’s top-level sprints in 2025.

Retained jockey David Egan had a tough call to make as to whether he’d ride the Commonwealth Cup runner-up or the same connections’ Curragh specialist Bucanero Fuerte, and his decision proved an inspired one (even though the market said otherwise). The Adrian Murray team had both sprinters right at the top of their game for this €400,000 event, and the pair finished first and third, split by a running-on Nighteyes in second.

With Bucanero Fuerte having returned from a spell at stud when failing to successfully cover a single mare earlier this year, and Arizona Blaze a stallion prospect, this was a massive win in more ways than one for the front-running three-year-old, who struck by a length.

A choked-up Joorabchian said: “I’m so happy for this guy, and I’m so emotional about it because he deserves it. He’s been just touched off in Group 1 races and today was his day. David is riding unbelievably, and he has such a positive energy that he’s given us so much confidence in the whole operation.

“What an amazing job Adrian and Robson [Aguiar] have done with him. They have never lost belief in him, even when he’s ran so-so. He’s so tough. It was a very tough decision for David whether to ride him or Bucanero. We knew Arizona is a stallion prospect and that’s what did it for him.”

This meeting has been a lucrative one in recent seasons for British-based Kildare native Egan. He struck on Eldar Eldarov in the 2023 Irish St Leger and was making it a double on the 2025 weekend, having guided Pink Oxalis to victory in the valuable fillies’ handicap that closed Saturday’s card.

The winning rider, who was aboard Power Blue for Amo when winning the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes earlier this season, said: “He competed as a juvenile at the top level and the Commonwealth Cup was hard to swallow, just touched off by Time For Sandals. He’s a top-class horse and he really deserved that. I’m delighted.

Keeping the faith

“Leading up to the race, a lot of people were talking that Bucanero was probably the pick between the two. Myself, it was probably very close to a flick of a coin but I always had a lot of faith in this horse.

“He was a little bit disappointing last time [when 11th in the Nunthorpe], but bounced back. A bit of ease in the ground helped. He was always comfortable and it’s the best form I’ve ever felt him in, so credit goes to Robson and Adrian.”

On Amo’s fortunes this season, Joorabchian added: “We always knew we were going to have a much better second half of the season. We were under the cosh during Royal Ascot and the earlier part of the season, but the horses that we purchased, the pedigrees that we’ve got into, Alex Elliott and Ben [McElroy], who do our purchasing, always knew that it was going to be the second half of the season [when we began to have success]. Power Blue and now Arizona have really lifted us.”

Conditions described as yielding probably blunted the effort of groundbreaking Australian raider Asfoora, finishing seventh as 7/2 favourite and beaten two and three-quarters of a length.

Dylan Browne McMonagle deputised for Oisin Murphy, who rode Asfoora to win the Nunthorpe but was instead in action at ParisLongchamp on the day, and said: “She jumped good from the gates and I was able to follow one of the Amo horses, beside the winner all the way. I was very comfortable through the race and always happy with the good horses in front of me to take as far as I could.

“I switched in two furlongs down and thought I was going to come with a nice run, but when I let her down she just didn’t quicken up on the ground. The winner and those in front of me relished the ground, but my one has a really low action and I couldn’t find a gear to go and win. She’ll be okay when she gets back on the top of the ground. It’s definitely a little tacky out there in terms of ground and she doesn’t bend her knee.”

The David O’Meara-trained Nighteyes ran the race of her life to rattle home for second, so it was unfortunate to note in the stewards’ report that she returned lame.