THE GALLERIES Ryan Moore famously refuses to play to were uniformly prostrating themselves at Epsom yesterday when Britain’s champion jockey broke his Classic duck with a daring Oaks victory on Snow Fairy.
On a sun-soaked afternoon that saw Aidan O’Brien collect a fourth Coronation Cup victory with Fame And Glory, there was, nevertheless, no disputing Moore’s status as the star turn.
The 26-year-old triple-champion usually displays a vampiric aversion to the limelight, but there was no getting away from it after his outstanding display on the 9 to 1 winner.
And Moore goes into today’s Derby date with Workforce with his confidence on a high.
Snow Fairy, once sold for just €1,800, and a late supplementary into the race for €20,000, came from last to first in a spectacularly rough race to beat the 25 to 1 outsider Meeznah by a neck. O’Brien’s Remember When was two lengths farther back in third.
“Ryan has given her the most amazing ride and it’s his first Classic, which is great for him,” said Snow Fairy’s trainer, Ed Dunlop, who was winning a second Oaks after Ouija Board in 2004.
“It was a masterful ride by a masterful jockey. As soon as we decided to go for the race, I had a look to see what Sir Michael Stoute had, and when it was obvious he had nothing for it we were straight on to Ryan,” he added.
Owner Christina Patino had the blow earlier in the morning of her colt Elusive Pimpernel being taken out of Sunday’s French Derby due to injury, but she saw her gamble of re-investing Snow Fairy’s trial winnings into the supplementary fee pay off in style.
As for the man doing the steering, Moore characteristically underplayed it: “It was a very rough race with a lot of bumping around, so we gave her chance.
“The pace slackened in the middle and that helped her stay the trip.”
If Snow Fairy navigated a twisting course up the Epsom straight, then there was nothing complicated about the way Fame And Glory beat Sariska in a Coronation Cup run almost two-and-a-half seconds faster than the fillies Classic.
Fame And Glory took over from his pacemaker, Dixie Music, after Tattenham Corner and had too much in the locker for Sariska, who looked to be travelling the strongest for much of the straight.
“He did it the hard way and is a real champion,” said the Irish star’s jockey, Johnny Murtagh.
“I loved the way he put his head down and battled. When Sariska came to him he really fought,” he added.
Fame And Glory is now a general 6 to 1 favourite for the Arc after going one better over the track on which he was runner-up to Sea The Stars in the 2009 Derby.
However, trainer Aidan O’Brien indicated that a tilt at Royal Ascot’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes later this month is next on the cards for the Montjeu colt.
“It depends on how he is after this race. But he could have a break after Ascot.”
