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Aidan O'Brien completed a classic double when his charge Hermosa made all to win the Group 1 Qipco 1000 Guineas the day after the team's Magna Grecia landed the colts' classic over the same course and distance. This time it was Wayne Lordan in the saddle and the pair beat fellow Irish raider Lady Kaya by a length. That Sheila Lavery-trained bay was ridden by Robbie Colgan.
The unbeaten Group 3 Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes winner Qabala was sent off as favourite for the mile test but had to settle for third, a neck behind Lady Kaya but a head in front of Angel's Hideaway. Each of the second, third and fourth look likely to do well anywhere in the six-to-eight-furlong range as their careers progress. Fairyland and Just Wonderful, stablemates of the winner, took fifth and sixth with both looking set for potentially different types of campaigns as the year progresses. The former, a Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine by noted speed influence Kodiac (by Danehill) holds entries in the Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes but also in the six-furlong Commonwealth Cup and five-furlong King's Stand Stakes. She merely kept on in the final furlong – which could have been partly due to it being her first outing of the year – but Just Wonderful stayed on strongly, as you might expect of a Dansili-sired descendant of Urban Sea whose entries include the Investec Oaks, Ribblesdale Stakes and Darley Irish Oaks.
Hermosa also holds entries in those three races, and she is an ante-post market leader for the Epsom classic. Being a Galileo full-sister to the Group 1 stars Hydrangea and The United States gives her every chance of staying 12 furlongs, but there is also a chance on pedigree that around 10 furlongs could be as far as she wants to go. The United States got his Group 1 win over 10 furlongs in Australia and Group 2 successes there over 12 and a half furlongs and a mile. Hydrangea won the Group 1 British Champions Filly & Mare Stakes over 12 on soft at Ascot and the Group 1 Matron Stakes over a mile at Leopardstown. However, half-sister Fire Lily (by Dansili), who was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, was a triple Group 3 winner over six furlongs. Their dam, Beauty Is Truth (by Pivotal), won the Group 2 Prix du Gros Chene over five at Chantilly, grandam Zelding (by Warning) won the Group 3 Prix du Bois and finished fourth in the Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp over that same trip, and that mare's siblings include the pattern-winning sprinters Nipping (by Night Shift) and Zipping (by Zafonic). The latter also finished fourth in Rock Of Gibraltar's 2000 Guineas. If you go back another step on the page then you will find that this is the family of star sprinter-miler Last Tycoon (by Try My Best). In short, Hermosa's ability to stay beyond 10 furlongs will depend on whether she inherited her dam's speed contribution or the stamina element that can appear in that line – Caerleon (by Nijinsky) and Mill Reef (by Never Bend) are the sires of her third and fourth dams. She was a Group 3 scorer over seven furlongs at two, runner-up in both the Group 1 Fillies' Mile and Group 1 Criterium International, and has now won the 1000 Guineas in promising style, so she is clearly a filly of considerable talent and potential. Hermosa has run eight times now but it should be noted that she won her classic a day before reaching her physical third birthday and that suggests there could still be plenty of improvement to come from her. She is an exciting prospect for the season ahead and has a pedigree that could also see her excel at stud when that time comes. Comments are closed.
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