Homeless Songs dazzles in Irish 1000 Guineas
Homeless Songs turned in a sensational performance in winning the Irish 1000 Guineas by more than five lengths on Sunday at The Curragh.
It was the first Group 1 success for Homeless Songs, a Moyglare Stud homebred trained by Dermot Weld, but surely not the last if the filly can maintain anything like this sort of form.
Weld, the renowned Irish trainer, won his fifth 1000 Guineas but first since Bethrah captured the one-mile Classic in 2010.
Homeless Songs debuted last July with a two-length win over Agartha, who set the pace and wound up a decent fifth in Sunday’s contest, but Homeless Songs failed to follow through on that promise in two subsequent 2-year-old starts. In the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes in September she dwelt at the start and finished fifth of eight as the strong 9-4 second favorite, and, favored while facing males in the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes in October, Homeless Songs had no punch and finished sixth.
But first time out following a winter break, Homeless Songs tipped her hand, using an electric turn of foot to beat Agartha again in an April 2 Guineas trial, and this time, Homeless Songs built on that performance.
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Jockey Chris Hayes settled Homeless Songs 10th as the 14-filly field came around the 1000 Guineas lone gentle bend, and even with six furlongs left and more than two thirds of her rivals in front of her, Homeless Songs was traveling sweetly. Hayes took to the far outside before the three-furlong marker as Homeless Songs made ground on Agartha and favored Tuesday, who had attended the early pace, and without being asked, Homeless Songs suddenly was right there with a quarter mile to run. Hayes went to a hand ride with 300 yards to run as Homeless Songs descended on Tuesday and Agartha, his mount sweeping past with a powerful burst that quickly carried her to the lead and on to a 5 1/2-length victory.
Homeless Songs clocked 1:38.82 for the mile over a good-to-yielding course; one race earlier, Pearls Galore, sixth of 13 in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Mile, was timed in 1:39.62 in winning the Group 2 Lanwades Stakes over the same distance. Homeless Songs paid $11 in pari-mutuel wagering available at DRFBets.com.
Tuesday, third last out in the English 1000 Guineas, held on for second, holding off her Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemate Concert Hall by a neck. Concert Hall’s push through the final 50 yards got her third over Star Girls Aalmal, who had been right with Tuesday and Agartha a half-furlong from the finish.
Weld suggested in post-race comments that a start at Royal Ascot in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes over a one-turn mile was possible for Homeless Songs, a daughter of Frankel and the Dubawi mare Joailliere. Weld said the filly has the speed to win a top-level race over six furlongs, while Hayes said his mount relaxed beautifully and had no trouble seeing out the one-mile distance.
* Alenquer wins Gold Cup on another big day for Haggas
Earlier on The Curragh card, Alenquer won an exciting renewal of the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, wearing down pacesetter High Definition and holding clear a late run from State of Rest.
Lord North, the close second choice behind favored State of Rest in global parimutuel pools, finished a close fourth. Alenquer paid $8.80 on DRFBets.com while beating Lord North for the second time this year. The first win came over the all-weather track at Lingfield in the Winter Derby on Feb. 26, both horses prepping for March 26 races in Dubai. There, Lord North was a dead-heat winner of the $5 million Dubai Turf over 1 1/8 miles while Alenquer could finish only sixth in the $6 million Sheema Classic at 1 1/2 miles.
Alenquer and jockey Tom Marquand tracked the pace as High Definition, a 20-1 shot trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, tried and nearly succeeded in making all the running. Alenquer looked like a beaten horse with half a furlong left to race, but under heavy pressure wore down High Definition in the last couple strides as State of Rest came too late on the far outside.
Four-year-old Alenquer, who could have the Prince of Wales’s Stakes on his agenda, was a distant second to Mishriff last summer in the Group 1 Juddmonte International and ended his campaign with a ninth-place finish in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and this was his first win at the Group 1 level. Bred in France, Alenquer is by the German stallion Adlerflug and out of Wild Blossom, who is by another German stud, Areion.
Haggas, who also trains Europe’s top miler, Baeed, found more success Sunday in Germany, where Maljoom was a game winner of the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen, the German 2000 Guineas. Rocchigiani, a Group 3 winner last year at age 2, opened a big lead with five-sixteenths of a mile to run at Cologne Racecourse, but Maljoom burst between horses and ran him down by 1 1/4 lengths, Rocchigiani finishing five lengths clear of the third horse home. Maljoom, by Caravaggio out of Nictate, by Teofilo, now is unbeaten in three starts. A try at the Group 1 level is possible in the one-mile St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.