Star Catcher holds on to win Irish Oaks

The ascendant Star Catcher, ridden by Frankie Dettori, his star still shining bright, proved uncatchable Saturday at The Curragh, making all the pace and holding off Fleeting by a half-length to win the Group 1 Irish Oaks.

Fleeting, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Star Catcher when the fillies finished one-two last month in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot over this same 1 1/2-mile trip, made serious midstretch inroads on Star Catcher’s lead, but Dettori had perfectly figured the pace, and Star Catcher had enough energy for one final winning push in the last half-furlong.

Pink Dogwood, the 5-2 favorite and an Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemate of Fleeting, finished third, more than four lengths behind Fleeting. Iridessa, the 4-1 second choice, never got involved and checked in seventh. The going was “good,” the winner’s time a modest 2:34.49.

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Owner Anthony Oppenheimer, given the go-ahead by trainer John Gosden, supplemented Star Catcher to the Irish Oaks for about $50,000, and the filly rewarded her connections with a roughly $205,000 payday, to say nothing of a first Group 1 success.

Star Catcher, a winner in three of her five starts, is by Sea The Stars and out of Lynnwood Chase, by Horse Chestnut. Plans for her next race aren’t set, but this is the time of year European 3-year-olds, both male and female, begin racing against older horses.