2013

THE Fugue’s standing as one of Europe’s most eminent middle-distance runners was cemented as this filly of rare quality ran out a decisive winner of the Group 1 Red Mills Irish Champion Stakes.

Fresh from her brilliant performance in the Yorkshire Oaks, the John Gosden-trained four-year-old threw down a strong marker for next month’s Arc de Triomphe with an assured defeat of Al Kazeem and Trading Leather.

A fascinating edition of this race lost one of its key players when Declaration Of War was withdrawn on account of the easing ground, but this should not detract from the winner’s efforts. She still faced a demanding assignment against some quality male opposition, on possibly slower than ideal ground, and rose to the occasion with a career-best display.

The Jim Bolger-trained Irish Derby winner Trading Leather cut out a decent pace for much of the race, and he remained in front turning for home, but by this stage Al Kazeem and the William Buick-ridden The Fugue (4/1) had closed up ominously.

The Lord Lloyd-Webber-owned daughter of Dansili was still travelling especially well, and she then struck for home inside the last quarter of a mile. She soon quickened into a useful lead and was in command entering the last furlong.

A game Al Kazeem stuck to his task well in the closing stages but he was never going to get on terms with the leader, and he went down by a length and a quarter as The Fugue recorded her third win at the highest level. Trading Leather was a further two lengths back in third, while his stablemate and former Dewhurst Stakes winner Parish Hall was an encouraging fourth.

Pulled up

Perhaps the most interesting runner of all was Kingsbarns on his first start since winning last season’s Racing Post Trophy, but he was reported to have lost his action crossing the road in the back-straight, and was pulled up heading towards the last half mile.

Gosden, who last won this race with Muhtarram some 20 years ago, said: “It’s a sense of relief, but it’s only really started to rain now. I walked the track when I got here and I was happy, and I had another look at it again after three races. I didn’t want to have to bring her and not run, and then send her off to France next weekend for the Vermeille; that would be a lot of travelling.

“It was a proper race, run at a good solid pace, and she’s shown good form to beat Al Kazeem and Trading Leather. I was delighted to see Kevin [Manning] take them along in the centre of the track, as it was starting to get a little cut up down the inner. William probably got there sooner than he wanted to, but you couldn’t know how well she would pick up on the ground when he went for her, and he went on at the right time.

“She is entered in the Arc and the Prix de l’Opera, and one of those will be her next race, provided the ground comes up good. You can get fast ground for the Arc, but it can also get very soft and then it becomes quite a specialist test, so if it was soft there we would have to look elsewhere.

“Later in the season she will be going back to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf,” concluded the winning trainer.

William Buick was thrilled to see his mount making up for some of the misfortunes that she suffered last year: “She’s getting the rub of the green that maybe she wasn’t getting last year. This is a championship race and she’s won easily. She’s a great filly.’’

Roger Charlton expressed his satisfaction with the efforts of the runner-up and paid tribute to the winner. He indicated that Al Kazeem could once again square off with The Fugue in the Arc.

The absent Declaration Of War has a choice of the English Champion Stakes or the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes for his next outing.

[In fact, The Fugue did not take up either if the races mentioned by John Gosden. Instead she contested the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf, finishing second to Magician, and she was also runner-up in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase. At the age of five she won one of her three starts, turning the tables on Magician in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The Fugue won almost £1.95 million and went to stud where she has had just one runner to date, Mahomes (Dubawi). He won a single race after cost 1,000,000gns as a yearling. The Fugue’s fifth foal is a son of Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), and he is catalogued as Lot 148 in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale]

Hayes lands his first Group 1

2013

A RESURGENT La Collina, who was masterfully brought back to the very peak of her powers by Kevin Prendergast, gave Chris Hayes an unforgettable first Group 1 triumph in the Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron Stakes.

La Collina was the only Group 1 winner in the line-up, by virtue of her 33/1 success in the 2011 Phoenix Stakes.

She hadn’t won since then, and a laboured effort on heavy ground in July’s Meld Stakes meant that she was allowed to go off as the second longest-priced runner at 25/1. However, she recaptured all her old sparkle and more, and she was delivered late to claim a universally popular success.

In a race run at a strong pace, La Collina was settled towards the rear of the 12-runner field, and she seemingly had plenty to do from third last nearing the entrance to the straight. The early leaders soon began to wilt, and the complexion of the race went on to change several times in the straight.

With over a furlong to run, Fiesolana had a spell in the lead, but she was then headed by Lily’s Angel, who ran a tremendous race in her bid to give Ger Lyons a first Group 1 winner in Ireland.

It appeared as though Say was coming with a winning challenge on the inner, but nothing could match La Collina. After launching a strong challenge early in the straight, she moved into a closing fourth at the furlong pole, and her relentless charge carried her past Lily’s Angel late on. The front pair was separated by half a length, with Say finishing a short head back in third. The favourite Kenhope, a rare raider from France, had to settle for fourth.

“This is very, very, very special,” remarked a delighted Prendergast, who trains the filly for Joerg and Diana Vasicek. “She’s a very genuine filly who showed plenty of guts today, and everything went right for her. She just couldn’t handle the heavy ground here last time.

“She ran well in this race last year (fourth), so I was hopeful, and she did work well with Gordon Lord Byron during the week, and we saw how that form worked out earlier. Hopefully, she’ll go on to the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket.”

The magnitude of the success certainly wasn’t lost on an emotional Hayes, who was making the breakthrough at Group 1 level some nine years after riding the first winner of his career at Bellewstown.

“I’m 10 years with the boss in November, and he’s never overlooked me. This is what you get up in the mornings for. This filly has never been as well, and she did a brilliant bit of work on Tuesday morning,” reflected Hayes.

[Bred at Manister House Stud by Frank, Liz and Luke Barry, La Collina finished fifth in the Sun Chariot Stakes and retired to Kenilworth House Stud. The £42,000 Doncaster Yearling Sale purchase won three races and her placed efforts included a third-place finish in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

At stud, four of her first five foals have won, the most recent being the 2023 three-year-old Hokiboshi (Zoustar), successful in Japan after his purchase for 150,000gns as a foal. La Collina’s first offspring, Piccola Collina (Dubawi), sold for 625,000gns as a foal, while her most recent offspring are a two-year-old colt, Azzuri Warrior (Saxon Warrior), a 200,000gns foal, and a yearling filly, also by Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact)]