St. Mark's Basilica leads 1-2 finish for O'Brien in Dewhurst Stakes

It was a one-two sweep for trainer Aidan O’Brien in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket as St. Mark’s Basilica improved considerably from his National Stakes performance last month in Ireland and beat Wembley by a half-length in the straight-course, seven-furlong contest for 2-year-olds.

O’Brien recorded his seventh Dewhurst win, the first of them coming in 2001 with Rock of Gibraltar. The top three home in the Dewhurst also filled out the top placings Sept. 13 in the National Stakes at The Curragh, where Thunder Noon surged home a winner over Wembley, St. Mark’s Basilica just behind in third.

St. Mark’s Basilica was to have raced last weekend at Longchamp in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere but had to be scratched because O’Brien and other European trainers had used feed from an Irish company that warned its products could have been contaminated with a banned medication, zilpaterol.

Ridden by Frankie Dettori, St. Mark’s Basilica, a 10-1 chance overseas, raced in midpack and about three paths off the stand’s side rail, coming under vigorous encouragement about a quarter-mile from the finish. St. Mark’s Basilica responded favorably to Dettori’s pleas, coming between horses to engage Thunder Moon, who had moved smoothly on the far outside to reach the front. St. Mark’s Basilica turned away Thunder Moon in the final furlong and had ample energy to hold clear late-running Wembley to win by three-quarters of a length. Thunder Moon, trained by O’Brien’s son Joseph O’Brien, wound up 1 3/4 lengths behind Wembley in third.

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Winning time over a soft course was 1:25.24. St. Mark’s Basilica, who won for the second time in five starts, is by Siyouni out of Cabaret, by Galileo.

O’Brien mentioned him, but only in passing, for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf while saying he had the colt Battleground pointed to that race next month at Keeneland.

Cadillac, who has a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race win to gain automatic fees-paid entry into the Juvenile Turf, tracked the pacesetters and came home evenly to finish a decent fifth.

Pretty Gorgeous brave in Fillies' Mile score

John Oxley’s Pretty Gorgeous earned her first Group 1 victory with a determined win over George Strawbridge’s Indigo Girl on Friday in the Group 1 Fillies' Mile at Newmarket.

The race took a bizarre turn when it was later discovered that the race’s recorded third-place finisher, Snowfall, had been confused with her Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemate Mother Earth before the race. James Doyle, booked to ride Snowfall, rode Mother Earth while William Buick accidently took the mount on Snowfall, who finished eighth. O’Brien said because of COVID-19 he has an England-based staff that isn’t necessarily familiar with the horses he sends from Ireland. It’s unclear how the mistake was made by English racing authorities tasked with confirming horse’s identities before they race.

The top two finishers, in any case, were comfortably best in this straight-course, one-mile race for 2-year-old fillies. Pretty Gorgeous had finished second to Shale last month in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh, but Shale never factored Friday finishing sixth, while Pretty Gorgeous came home determinedly under Shane Crosse to hold off Indigo Girl, who ran well in defeat.

Ireland-based Jessica Harrington trains Pretty Gorgeous, a robust-looking daughter of Lawman and Lady Gorgeous, by Compton Place. Harrington said post-race it was unlikely Pretty Gorgeous would travel to Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup, while trainer John Gosden said Indigo Girl would be aimed toward 2021 classic races over longer distances, such as the Epsom Oaks.

* Saturday at Chantilly, in France, 2-year-old Plainchant won the Group 2 Criterium de Maisson-Laffitte by three-quarters of a length over Go Athletico, but while Plainchant’s connections said just after the race that they were interested in sending the colt to Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, Plainchant would have to be supplemented into the race at a cost of $200,000. Go Athletico also will be considered for the BC Juvenile Turf.