RICHARD HUGHES’S winning ambition is taking him to a first jockeys’ championship in Britain and on his return home to the Curragh yesterday it paid off in Group One style on board Sky Lantern in the Moyglare Stud Stakes.
Finishing third would have recouped the €22,500 supplementary fee that Hong Kong owner Ben Keswick paid out earlier in the week to get Sky Lantern into the race but Hughes wasn’t settling for that.
“In the paddock I asked Richard if he wanted me to ride her for a place or a win because there’s a huge difference. If you go for it, you can end up getting done for third,” the locally born rider explained. “But I went out real positive, broke only two or three lengths off a good pace and I was always happy.”
A happy Hughes remains one of the most stylish sights in racing, his well documented battle with alcohol a memory that allows him place a jockeys’ title in a context that doesn’t become too all-consuming.
But the importance of Group One winners to a high-profile stable like Richard Hannon is hard to overstate and Sky Lantern was a first top-flight success of 2012 for the former British champion trainer.
The grey eased past her opposition in some style to beat the 33 to 1 outsider Scintillula by two and a half lengths with the favourite Harasiya in third. Just as Snow Fairy was a first British winner in a decade of Saturday’s Champion Stakes, Sky Lantern was a first cross-channel winner of the Moyglare since 2002, and a second winner in the race for Hannon after the Lester Piggott ridden Lemon Souffle in 1993.
“It might not have been a vintage Moyglare but she has done it very impressively and she will be a Guineas filly,” Richard Hannon Jnr said. “She gets into the Breeders Cup now and Santa Anita is an option. She could stay a mile there.”
Hughes agreed and added: “She got bumped on her last start at Goodwood and it rattled her a bit. But she flew here, really quickened up well.”
John Oxx wasn’t too disappointed with Harasiya and reported: “She ran well. She changed her legs a bit and the ground might have been a bit fast. Hopefully she’ll handle better ground with more experience.”
That’s a quality Famous Name has plenty of and Dermot Weld’s admirable campaigner notched a 20th career win in the Group Three Solonaway Stakes at odds of 2 to 5.
“I thought he might be vulnerable at a mile as he gets older but he is an amazing horse, who loves being a racehorse,” said Weld, who has the option of trying to secure an elusive Group One for the Juddmonte stalwart in Italy in a fortnight’s time.
The Breeders’ Cup is the aim for Up who graduated to Group Two success in the Blandford Stakes, edging out the other 3 to 1 joint-favourite Caponata in a thrilling finish.
“Joseph (O’Brien) was trying to get her home at the trip and the last 50 yards was tough,” said Aidan O’Brien. “The filly and mare turf at the Breeders’ Cup could suit her.”
The red-hot Ballydoyle favourite George Vancouver could manage only sixth in the Group Three Round Tower Stakes but it was 10th time lucky for Leitir Mor.
Jim Bolger’s Phoenix Stakes runner-up had been one of the highest rated maidens in the country but finally got a nod in his favour over Cougar Ridge.
Born to sire: Oxx retires stallion to stud
BORN TO SEA, runner-up to Camelot in this year’s Irish Derby, has been retired after his disappointing effort in Saturday’s Irish Champion Stakes, writes Brian O’Connor.
Winner of just one race in his career – a debut Listed win in the Blenheim Stakes – the half-brother to Sea The Stars, has been the subject of plenty of interest as a potential stallion.
“We felt there was something amiss with his action in the last two furlongs of the race and found this morning he was lame behind,” trainer John Oxx said yesterday.
“He will need some rest and because we are now in the latter stages of the year, there will not be time to prepare him for any of his end of season objectives.
“Therefore in view of the very significant interest there is in him as a stallion, it has been decided to retire him,” he added.
