Ryan Moore goes to Naas for a single ride in the €300,000 Bank Holiday Monday feature and hoping his weekend luck changes.
Moore missed the final two days of Goodwood to go to Saratoga for a pair of valuable rides on Aidan O’Brien-trained horses.
However, Greenfinch had to be scratched from Friday night’s Grade Two Saratoga Oaks, reportedly due to a foot issue. As if that wasn’t enough, heavy overnight rain ensured Saturday’s turf races were cancelled at the New York track. That ruled out Diego Velazquez from an apparent favourite’s chance in the $600,000 Grade One Saratoga Derby.
The featured turf races, including the Derby, have been rescheduled for the coming Saturday but O’Brien reported on Sunday that Diego Velazquez is on his way home to Ireland and that he’s “not sure where we will go now”.
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For Moore, closing in on 200 Group/Grade One career wins and having been acclaimed by Coolmore partner Michael Tabor as “riding at the peak of his powers” after winning on Opera Singer on Thursday, it meant a frustrating and tiring weekend.
Some typical bank holiday rain is forecast to reach Naas in the afternoon, but it won’t affect the fifth running of the lucrative Ballyhane Stakes for two-year-olds.
The race restricted to produce from sires with a median auction sale of €75,000 or less has a €150,000 first prize and prize money down to 12th place.
Hugo Palmer’s Golden Trick was the first British-based winner of the race a year ago, beating Jungle Mate in the same ownership. There are two British hopefuls this time including Violet Love who will be ridden by rising star Billy Loughnane.
The race attracted 322 original entries that have boiled down to 24 runners with three reserves hoping for a late spot.
A contest designed to give all sorts of connections a shot at a big pay-day has to date ensured the sport’s big operations are to the fore. Ballydoyle’s Chief Little Hawk won the inaugural running while Sacred Bridge for Juddmonte outclassed her opposition in 2021. The Annemarie O’Brien-owned and bred California Voce beat Matilda Picotte in 2022.
There are a pair of Ballydoyle hopes in the extended five-furlong contest this time although with little doubt about Moore’s mount, Heavens Gate, being the number one.
The daughter of Churchill has a heady 102 rating in this context on the back of some smart form already this season.
Heavens Gate followed up her Curragh maiden success with an Albany Stakes third to her stable companion Fairy Godmother at Royal Ascot and filled the same position in a Newmarket Group Two last time. That’s a level of form well clear of most of these.
California Voce’s trainer Joseph O’Brien has three hopefuls but one of them, Midnight Strike, has to concede weight all round. The Leopardstown maiden winner And So To Bed looks progressive but may not be suited by a drop in trip.
It’s a step up in distance that could prove a slight question mark over Zaragoza in an earlier seven-furlong handicap.
Dermot Weld’s runner won his first handicap at six in the Curragh when carrying first-time cheekpieces and on the back of a gelding operation. He is 7lbs higher in the ratings now but on just his fifth career start should be progressive.
The other bank holiday fixture is at Cork where Aurora Vega is likely to start at short odds for her jumping debut in the opener.
A full sister to the ill-fated Facile Vega — and a half-sister to Saturday’s Galway bumper Cameletta Vega — the beautifully bred mare won her first three bumper starts and should prove difficult to beat.
In other news, last month’s Pretty Polly winner Bluestocking could line up next in the Yorkshire Oaks in just over three weeks.
The Ralph Beckett-trained filly subsequently ran an honourable second to Goliath in the King George at Ascot and connections are weighing up a return to competing against her sex at York.
“Ralph has said she has come out of the race great and is in absolutely tip-top shape and you wouldn’t know she has had a race,” said Barry Mahon, racing manager for owners, Juddmonte.
“I think it’s a day or so short of four weeks from Ascot to York and Ascot was four weeks from the Curragh, so her races have spaced out quite nicely and she has only had three runs this year which is not a huge amount,” he added.
