Irish lead the way in Paris' Arc Trials Day

Arc Trials Day in Paris on Sunday was a day for the Irish.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien sent out Mogul to win the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris and Anthony Van Dyck to a narrow win over Stradivarius in the Group 2 Prix Foy, while the Dermot Weld-trained Irish shipper Tarnawa scored an eye-catching victory in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille.

Mogul clocked easily the fastest time among the trip of 1 1/2-mile races, but that was in great part because his stablemate, Nobel Prize, cut out a very strong pace while racing well clear of the rest of the Grand Prix de Paris Field. Mogul got an absolute dream of a run under Pierre-Charles Boudot, slipping up the fence without a straw in his path past the three-furlong marker and cleaving to the rail until he was clear of all but his pace-making barn-mate. Boudot steered a couple paths to the left, Mogul burst past Nobel Prize, and while his momentum slowed very late in the game, he posted a 2 1/2-length win, clocking 2:24.76 over good ground.

Mogul, by Galileo out of Shastye, by Danehill – making him a full brother to 4-year-old Japan, who won the 2019 Grand Prix de Paris– came into 2020 supposedly a leading Epsom Derby hope for O’Brien, but his preparations through the spring reportedly went poorly and Mogul, looking heavy, finished just fourth of six making his seasonal debut in the King Edward VII at Royal Ascot. Mogul wasn’t terrible in the Derby, finishing sixth of 16, subsequently winning and finishing third in decent performances in lesser Group races, but it wasn’t until Sunday that he showed signs of living up to the hype.

:: Start earning weekly cashback on your wagering today. Click to learn more.

O’Brien won the Derby anyway with Serpentine, but in this, Serpentine's first start since, he finished a flat fourth. Much, much worse was favored Port Guillaume, who faded through the field and finished last. German Derby winner In Swoop finished very well through the final furlong to nab second from Gold Trip.

Three-year-old filly Raabihah was the 6-5 favorite in the Vermeille, but after following Tanarwa into the homestretch, she could not finish with her 4-year-old rival. Tarnawa, in fact, hit a gear with about three-sixteenths of a mile to run that none of her rivals could match, streaking to a three-length win under Christophe Soumillon.

Raabiha, who got eight pounds from the winner, barely got up for second over Dame Maillot. Weld’s first Vermeille win came with an Aga Khan homebred by Shamardal out of Tarana, by Cape Cross. Tarnawa, who clocked 2:26.42, was a Group 3 winner who showed signs of being a better filly than that at age 3, and she has taken a step forward this season, beating Cayenne Pepper, a sharp Group 2 winner Sunday at The Curragh, in her only previous 2020 run.

The Foy, for older horses, was run at a virtual crawl, Anthony Van Dyck leading the slow-paced group into the homestretch, where the field fanned out to sprint for the finish. Anthony Van Dyck, Mickael Barzalona up, raced about three paths off the fence, while just to his inside Skyward came with a challenge and might have poked his nose in front at the 400-meter pole. Anthony Van Dyck turned him away with a burst of acceleration that carried him clear of the main challenger to his outside, odds-on favorite Stradivarius. Stradivarius cut into the margin through the final furlong, falling a head short, in a slow-early-and-middle, fast-late sort of race unsuitable for a staying horse cutting back to 1 1/2 miles, as Stradivarius was. Time for the Foy was 2:33.27, a product as much as anything of the slow tempo.

It’s possible that none of the three Arc Trial winners will run in the Arc. O’Brien told Scott Burton of the Racing Post that he had already considered cutting Mogul back to 1 1/4 miles, mentioning the Champion Stakes in England as well as trips to Australia, America, and Hong Kong under consideration. Serpentine, however, could run back in the Arc.

Tarnawa could wind up in the Prix de l’Opera for fillies rather than the Arc, though the latter race, which requires a supplementary nomination, will be considered. Raabihah remains on course for the Arc, trainer Alain Royer-Dupre said.

Anthony Van Dyck also seems like an unlikely Arc runner and could be aimed at races in Australia, but Stradivarius’s connections were pleased enough with his performance and plan to run back in the Arc.

Thunder Moon storms home in Moyglare Stud

Thunder Moon might have been the star of a multi-stakes card Sunday at The Curragh, extricating himself from trouble with a mighty burst of pace to win the Group 1 Vincent O’Brien National Stakes, part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series offering automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Juvenile Turf.

Making just his second career start following a maiden win Aug. 9 at The Curragh, Thunder Moon looked loaded throughout the seven-furlong National: when jockey Declan McDonogh found room for his mount diving toward the outer rail 150 yards out, Thunder Moon found speed none of his 2-year-old rivals could muster. He finished 1 1/2 lengths clear of Wembley in a race run over ground called “good” that played slow and laboring.

Saint Mark’s Basilica was third, while 2-1 favorite Lucky Vega had no luck at, crunched in traffic while racing alongside Thunder Moon and lacking a clear run until the very late stages.

Joseph O’Brien trains Thundering Moon, a son of Zoffany and Small Sacrifice, by Sadler’s Wells, and the colt might have run too well to be considered for the Breeders’ Cup, as leading candidates for the following year’s classic races often remain nearer home during the fall.

It was Joseph O’Brien’s younger brother, Donnacha, who sent out Shale to win the Group 1 Moyglare Stud, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race linked to the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. Shale, under Ryan Moore, outfinished heavily favored Pretty Gorgeous by three-quarters of a length despite, her trainer told the Racing Post, being “nearly the first one off the bridle.”

Moore’s post-race comments also suggested Shale was something of an overachiever, but the daughter of Galileo and Homecoming Queen, by Holy Roman Emperor, now is a Group 1 winner. Her next start could come in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket of the Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp.

Glass Slippers, meanwhile, won the card’s other BC Challenge Race, the Flying Five Stakes, a five-furlong straight course dash linked to the BC Turf Sprint. Glass Slippers was up by a half-length over Keep Busy for her first win of the year and is on course to try and win the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp for the second year in a row.

And finally, Weld, who watched from afar as Tarnawa won the Vermeille, notched a major-race victory at home as the 4-year-old filly Search for A Song won the Irish St. Leger. Search for A Song, by Galileo, had lost her three previous 2020 races but was back out to a 1 3/4-mile distance for the first time since defeating the fine stayer Kew Gardens in this same race a year ago.

***At Baden-Baden in Germany, Barney Roy won the Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Baden by 1 1/4 lengths over Communique. James Doyle rode the winner for trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin, which has won this race three years in a row, Barney Roy following Ghaiyyath in 2019 and Best Solution in 2018. Six-year-old Barney Roy’s story is pretty remarkable. At 3, he won the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes over one mile, but after being retired to stud as a 4-year-old he proved infertile, was gelded, and returned to racing. Three-and-a-half years after landing the one-mile Group 1 in England, he won a 1 1/2-mile Group 1 in Germany.