Comer Group International Irish St Leger (Group 1)

ON a day of days for Dermot Weld, Search For A Song returned to the heights she reached on this day last year as she gave former dual champion apprentice Oisin Orr the first classic success of his career.

Last year Search For A Song ground her rivals into submission after taking over the lead before halfway but a vastly different display was on show this time as the Moyglare Stud-owned filly put a mixed season behind her.

This victory came less than two hours after the trainer struck gold with Tarnawa in the Prix Vermeille and for the first time since 1994 (on Irish St Leger day) the trainer sent out two Group 1 winners on the same afternoon.

Search For A Song ran with considerable credit to finish third in the Tattersalls Gold Cup on her last start and the form of that was amply advertised by both Magical and Armory at Leopardstown the previous afternoon.

Weld legitimately harboured hopes of a repeat success for last year’s heroine whose victory means that the Rosewell House trainer joins the late Vincent O’Brien as the jointly most successful trainer in this race’s history on nine wins.

The resurgent Galileo filly was settled towards the rear of the field by Orr and still looked to be travelling well within herself as the race began to develop in earnest off the last bend.

At this stage, the English raider Fujaira Prince had kicked about a length ahead of a dogged Twilight Payment but the eye was continually drawn to Search For A Song (7/1).

Orr eventually produced her to pounce inside the last furlong and she asserted in likeable style in the closing stages to defeat Fujaira Prince by two lengths with Twilight Payment, making the podium for the first time on his fourth appearance in this race, a further neck back.

The favourite and last year’s Irish Derby winner Sovereign dropped away to sixth after making much of the running.

Super ride

“This race has been the plan for her all along. She got a super ride from Oisin and she came here off a super run over 10 furlongs in the Tattersalls Gold Cup and we all saw what Magical did at Leopardstown yesterday. I trained her for the day for a long time and I came here quietly confident that she could win,” said Weld.

“I told Oisin to go out and ride her with plenty of confidence and he produced her at just the right time. I think Oisin, who was only 23 last week, has a wonderful pair of hands. He rides a very relaxed race and fills a horse full of confidence and gets them into a lovely rhythm.

“It’s been a very special day and today was the day for both fillies so I’ll speak to connections and see where we go from here,” concluded Weld.