Manieree to put on a show in France after the Blandford Stakes at Curragh
Niall McCullagh, right after winning on Saddler’s Rock in the Doncaster Cup, delivered an unconventional ride on Manieree to lift the feature www.thetote.com Blandford Stakes at the Curragh which is held each year in September in Ireland for a distance of
one mile and two furlongs.
As performed at the prior race, the John Oxx filly started off with a soft lead, as only her stable mate Kirinda and Sapphire were chasing so to avoid offering too much clearing to Manieree.
The stable mates did not turn out to be much of an issue for Manieree as she found plenty for herself in the straight and shot just head on with no intent whatsoever to lose grip on the lead and won the Group 2 honours by three and a quarter lengths from
Sapphire, with Look At Me down by further four lengths.
The contest for all the three year old Irish fillies and mares saw that runner up Sapphire was led to the wire by P J Smullen who went after chasing the leaders and remained fifth in lead halfway, towards the third furlong he advanced to being the third
and finally second in the second last furlong.
The popular Bible Belt turned out to be a sheer disappointment who was followed by the winner’s other stable mate, Kirinda who just managed being eighth in the lead.
John Oxx was delighted that the week was packed with good races with many nice horses running in the right races as the right combination of two makes the races all the more interesting.
He went on explaining:
“She likes soft ground and improved a bit today. The mile-and-a-quarter is better for her than one mile, one furlong. She has been working better and better. Niall said she was very fresh on the way to the start but when he asked her to go during the race,
she flew”.
After these two well executed wins, John Oxx is all hyped up about preparing for the upcoming races in which Manieree will be participating in Prix de l’Opera. He is expectant about a heavier ground in France because according to him the filly will be able
to run and perform better on those ground conditions.
“She’s a good filly and might be better if the ground is heavy. She is in the Prix de l’Opera and I’ll train her for it. If it is a soft-ground week in France she might run there. She can make the running, which can be useful in France”.
With two first positions at Curragh (the first one being in July) it will be surely something to see her make a hat-trick!!
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