Lancashire Oaks 2011 - Banimpire scratched from Haydock, Jim Bolger chooses to run at Irish Oaks
Banimpire, the 3-to-1 favourite, has been ruled out of the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks at Haydock on 28 June.
Trainer, Jim Bolger, feels that the three year old brown filly will not need another race before the Darley Irish Oaks that will start on 17 July.
Banimpire’s season this year has yielded five wins and the Irish filly has been in electrifying form throughout the season. She caught the eyes of many when she won the Ribblesdale Stakes at the Berkshire venue and recorded her first Ascot win of her illustrious
2-year old career.
Four days before the three-year olds success at the Ascot, the filly landed the Group 2 Noblesse Stakes at Cork. She is the winner of multiple stakes and has the ability to light up any race, or, any line-up she is a part of.
With stakes wins like the Blue Wind Stakes, her emphatic three wins in the Ballysax Stakes, and, a listed race win at Gowran, Banimpire has become a force to be reckoned with and the charm of Haydock will fade a little because of her absence.
If Bolger hadn’t scratched Banimpire from the Lancashire Oaks then Haydock would have seen an Ascot winning line-up, the likes of Fox Hunt and Banimpire. The high class entry got slashed and Banimpire will now head to Darley Irish Oaks.
The Irish Oaks sponsored by Darley is a Group 1 Flat horse and it is run at the Curragh. The race is open to three-year old fillies and run over a distance 1 mile and 4 furlongs approximately 2,414 meters.
The Darley Irish Oaks is a replica of the English version of the Oaks Stakes and it is imperative to have competed in the English counterpart to run in the Irish Oaks. It has a huge purse of €500,000 and it is held two weeks after the Irish Derby. Sometimes
the first 3 position holders of the race compete in the Yorkshire Oaks.
The most recent horse to achieve victory in both English Oaks Stakes and the Irish Oaks was Snow Fairy in 2010.
Among Banimpire, the confirmed entrant of the Irish Oaks, there is Sir Henry Cecil’s three-year old Arizona Jewel and trainer, Aidan O’Brien, is hopeful with his number of entries, such as Wonder of Wonders, who won the Weatherbys Bank Cheshire Oaks for
fillies on 4 May.
The torch has been passed to Sir Henry Cecil’s Vita Nova as the four year old filly becomes the favourite to win the Lancashire Oaks at Haydock. Bred by Paget Bloodstock, Vita Nova has had an impressive career under trainer, Sir Henry Cecil. Her winning
card holds 3 wins in 4 starts.
Her last run was at Haydock where she finished second to Ferdoos in a close defeat.
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