Bethrah wins fourth Irish 1000 Guineas for Dermot Weld
In more than 30 years since he took out his trainer’s licence, Dermot Weld has seen a lot of changes.
There has been the arrival of Arab owners who now dominate much of the sport along with the ever-growing presence of the Coolmore Stud and their main trainer, Aidan O’Brien. However, one of the constants has been Weld’s own ability given the right material, something that was long since noted by Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum.
The sheikh has been an owner with Weld for many years and that patronage was rewarded when Bethrah won the Etihad Airways Irish 1000 Guineas at the Curragh.
The filly had only won her maiden, at Limerick, in mid-April but had given an inkling of her potential when she won a Group Three at Leopardstown two weeks ago. However, this was still a big step up and a field of 19 meant that Bethrah (pictured) had to be a quick learner. Turning for home Pat Smullen looked trapped in the pack as Anna Salai, the Godolphin filly trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni, eased into contention ahead of her.
Ahmed Ajtebi took it up after the three-furlong point but Anna Salai could not get clear and Smullen managed to weave a path through horses to get a run up the rail in the last 50 yards and win by head with Anna Salai holding off Music Show by a neck for second.
“We always thought she was a very good filly,” Smullen said. “To be fair to the filly, she put up a good performance because she got stopped once or twice and she got me out of trouble. With 19 runners there wasn’t a whole lot of room but I set her alight at the two-furlong marker to go into a gap behind Lolly For Dolly - and she actually surprised me how well she quickened up. She landed in onto the heels of her and I had to steady her off and then ask her to quicken again so it was a fair performance.”
The victory was a fourth in the race for Weld, who said: “I’m so pleased for Sheikh Hamdan; he’s been a very loyal supporter of me. I’ve trained previous Group winners for him but this is my first Classic winner for him.
“She won her maiden easily, she won her Group Three at Leopardstown the other day impressively and she’s a progressive filly. She’s tough, she’s genuine, she’s just hard to beat. I think the best is yet to come. It was great to win today, this was her first main target of the year, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see her winning another Group One for us.”
Aidan O’Brien is still getting into full swing and won his first Group One of the season with Fame And Glory in the Tattersalls Gold Cup. Fame And Glory, last year’s Irish Derby winner, spent most of last season chasing the tail of Sea The Stars but this time all he had to catch was his own pacemaker, Dixie Music. Johnny Murtagh closed on the stable companion just after the home turn and Fame And Glory powered away from Recharge by seven lengths.
“All the class is there and the way he travelled, he’s really matured and he’s in a great place,” O’Brien said, the nominating the Investec Coronation Cup as the horse’s next target. “It’s a little bit soon, backing up, but I think we’ll take the chance and then we can give him a little rest after that if we have to.”
There will be little time for O’Brien to rest as he prepares his team for the Investec Derby and Jan Vermeer took a step closer to either that, or the French equivalent, when he made a winning seasonal return in the Group Three Airlie Stud Gallinule Stakes.
Unlike many of O’Brien’s runners, who have appeared to need their first run of the season, Jan Vermeer looked plenty tight enough and he came upsides the leaders with little effort at the furlong marker, Murtagh needing only to push the colt out to win by one-and-three-quarter lengths as he made light of the 7lb penalty he carried for his Group One win last year. He will be a contender whether he goes to Epsom or Chantilly for the Prix Du Jockey Club.
At Longchamp, Goldikova proved difficult to load into the starting stalls but that was the closest she came to problems in the Prix D'Ispahan. Travelling strongly in third, behind the pacemakers, she took the lead early in the home straight and came clear of Byword to win by a half-length. It was the eighth Group One win of her career and she runs next in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The royal meeting is also on the agenda for Kite Wood who, following his pillar-to-post victory in the Group Two Prix Vicomtesse Vigier, will now run in the Gold Cup next month.
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