The Curragh: So You Think dominates Tattersalls Gold Cup
New Zealand-bred So You Think has yet to face a worthy opponent in two starts since being imported to Ireland from Australia, but the manner in which he has won those two races, most recently the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup on Sunday at the Curragh, suggests So You Think can compete with any horse in Europe.
Bookmakers certainly think so: So You Think is listed as the early favorite for prestigious races such as the King George and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe after easily winning the Gold Cup by 4 1/2 lengths under Ryan Moore.
Tracking his pacemaker, Windsor Palace, in just a five-horse field, So You Think made his run about a quarter-mile from the finish of the 1 5/16-mile Gold Cup, took total command a furlong out, and was under a hand ride from Moore to win comfortably over Campanologist. Famous Name checked in another 2 ½ lengths back in third.
So You Think finished third in the two-mile Melbourne Cup, his final start in Australia, but has won his last six races at distances of 10 furlongs or less. Trainer Aidan O’Brien said So You Think is likely to make his next start in the Prince of Wales’s Stake at Royal Ascot.
O’Brien dominated the Group 1 racing over the weekend the Curragh, winning the Irish 2000 Guineas with Roderic O’Connor on Saturday, and also sending out Misty for Me and Together to a one-two finish Sunday in the Irish 1000 Guineas. Both 3-year-old fillies were coming out of the English 1000 Guineas, in which Together finished second and Misty for Me 11th, but Misty for Me appears to elevate her game racing at the Curragh, and she pushed past her stablemate to win the one-mile race by three-quarters of a length. Seamie Heffernan rode the winner, Ryan Moore the runner-up. Laughing Lashes finished third.