Warm Heart looks sharp in Prix Vermeille
The Arc trials on Sunday at Longchamp Racecourse in France might have been more like Breeders’ Cup auditions.
Warm Heart followed her strong win in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks last month in England with another excellent performance in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille for fillies and mares, bursting between horses with a quarter-mile to run, quickly making the lead, idling, then repelling a big run from Melo Melo to win by a head.
Ridden for Coolmore and trainer Aidan O’Brien for the second straight time by James Doyle, Warm Heart already was being aimed toward the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and, after the race, O’Brien reiterated even more strongly that the Breeders’ Cup, not the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, would be Warm Heart’s target. The Longchamp course was rated good-to-soft Sunday and Warm Heart prefers even firmer footing. She’s unlikely to get that in the Arc and all but certain to find it at Santa Anita.
Warm Heart stumbled at the start of the 1 1/2-mile Vermeille, forcing Doyle to be a little farther back than he’d planned while racing along the rail. Warm Heart boldly made her own room when Doyle took her off the fence for her stretch run, and when Melo Melo came roaring up to her, Warm Heart showed she still had gas in the tank.
The 3-year-old filly is by Galileo out of Sea Siren, by Fastnet Rock.
Similar course concerns apply to German 3-year-old Fantastic Moon, who was an eye-catching winner of the age-restricted Group 2 Prix Niel. Grand Prix de Paris winner Feed the Flame was an odds-on favorite in the 1 1/2-mile Niel, but he was no match for Fantastic Moon, who whizzed past pacesetting King of Records at the three-sixteenths pole and went strongly to the wire. Fantastic Moon beat Feed the Flame by 2 1/2 lengths over a course upgraded during the Sunday card from good-to-soft to good and looked like a serious horse in so doing.
Fantastic Moon, by Sea the Moon, was ridden by Rene Piechulek for his partner, trainer Sarah Steinberg, the same connections who brought the German horse Torquator Tasso to upset the 2021 Arc and finish third in 2022. Fantastic Moon won the German Derby over the good colt Mr. Hollywood while racing on a good course at Baden-Baden, but was beaten by Nations Pride later in July at Munich over soft. With that in mind, connections said they were giving consideration to the Japan Cup and the BC Turf more than the Arc, which often is contested on a soft late-season course.
The 4-year-old filly Place du Carrousel was a gritty winner of the Group 2 Prix Foy earlier on the card and is expected to try the Arc next month.
***Ireland
Rain softened the course at The Curragh for Sunday’s card and might have diminished the impact Group 1 races there will make on the Breeders' Cup.
A parade of longshots filled out the first three positions in the Flying Five Stakes, a five-furlong dash offering automatic fees-paid entry to the BC Turf Sprint for the winner. That was 5-year-old Moss Tucker, a 16-1 shot making his Group 1 debut in his 30th start.
Moss Tucker, an Excelebration gelding trained by Kevin Condon, won by a half-length over 22-1 Get Ahead, with longshots Equality and Ladies Church third and fourth, respectively. Heavily favored Highfield Princess finished fifth and was showing signs of being in season after the race, according to official charts.
Fallen Angel won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at seven furlongs, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. Fallen Angel, by Too Darn Hot, was coming off a three-length win in the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes in England and ran her record to 4-3-1-0. Her target could be the Fillies Mile at Newmarket followed by the 1000 Guineas next year. Ylang Ylang, heavily favored for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore, was a major disappointment in finishing last.
O’Brien and Moore did win the Group 1 National Stakes, though not with the expected horse. City of Troy, Moore’s scheduled mount and the strong early favorite for the 2024 Two Thousand Guineas, was scratched earlier Sunday because of a wet course. O’Brien said he didn’t want to run City of Troy over softer ground with the colt making his first start after a layoff, worrying he’d work too hard in a race intended to move him forward to an autumn goal. City of Troy is expected to race again this year.
Moore switched to another highly capable 2-year-old, Henry Longfellow, and rode him to a five-length victory over Islandinthestream. Henry Longfellow, by Dubawi out of Minding, looks like a horse made for longer distances but had no trouble getting home at this seven-furlong trip. He’s won three in a row to begin his career.
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