Curragh: Al Kazeem's resurgence continues in Tattersalls Gold Cup
Al Kazeem won the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup on Sunday at The Curragh in Ireland, his second victory in the race, and his first Group 1 tally since being returned to training after a brief and unsuccessful career as a stallion during the winter of 2013- 2014.
Returned to training in spring 2014, Al Kazeem climbed back to good form, his best run of the season a second to Noble Mission in the Champion Stakes in October, and Al Kazeem’s performance level improbably appears to have ticked forward this year at age 7. Winner of the Prix d’Harcourt in his season’s debut, and second to the mighty Cirrus des Aigles in the Group 1 Prix Ganay over ground perhaps softer than ideal, Al Kazeem parlayed a highly favorable trip Sunday into his second victory in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, a race he won at the height of his powers in 2013.
Sitting cozily along the rail just behind pacesetting Postponed, Al Kazeem had to bull his way between horses to deliver his challenge in the homestretch, his cause helped by The Grey Gatsby’s inability to sufficiently quicken and keep Al Kazeem from finding room. Once into the hole, Al Kazeem continued on bravely, taking the measure of Postponed, who held third, and holding clear a late challenge from Fascinating Rock, whom he beat by a neck.
James Doyle rode the winner, his third straight win in the race following victories on Al Kazeem two years ago and aboard Noble Mission in 2014. Trained by Roger Charlton, Al Kazeem won for the 10th time in 23 starts, and he has finished first or second in 17 of those races. His next start could come in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, a race he won in 2013.
Multiple Group 1-winning 4-year-old and race favorite The Grey Gatsby failed to produce his best form. Kept in good striking position by Ryan Moore, he failed to stay with the top three finishers in the final furlong, checking in fourth.
Pleascach denies Found in Irish 1000
Pleascach, one of three Jim Bolger-trained fillies in the race, scored a half-length win over favored Found to give Bolger his second career victory in the Irish 1000 Guineas.
Bred and owned by Bolger and his wife, Pleascach is by Teofilo, whom Bolger trained, and out of the mare Toirneach, another Bolger trainee, and she was aided Sunday by the other two Bolger horses in the Guineas. Mainicin set the early pace, giving way to another Bolger filly, Steip Amach, who towed chasing Pleascach along to the final furlong before giving way. Pleascach, ridden by Bolger’s son-in-law, Kevin Manning, took up the running and finished bravely, holding off late-surging Found.
Stewards called for an inquiry, Pleascach having drifted into Found’s path, but the result was left unchanged.
Bolger views Pleascach as a 12-furlong filly, which makes her win in the one-mile Guineas more noteworthy. She is being pointed to a start against males in the Irish Derby.
Found ran creditably in defeat and could have the English Oaks as a near-term target for trainer Aidan O’Brien.