York Racecourse, England// Just after Taghrooda passed the winning post at Ascot for her historic victory in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes last month John Gosden remarked that Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid's filly was the best over 2,400 metres he had trained.
Gosden set up on his own in California in 1979 and for the past 35 years has had a string of star fillies from US Eclipse Award winner Royal Heroine, who beat the males in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1984, to Dar Re Mi, who also beat the boys to lift the Dubai Sheema Classic at the first running of the Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan in 2010.
A direct comparison with one of Gosden’s other leading ladies is in the offing here tonight when the unbeaten Taghrooda takes on six rivals in the Yorkshire Oaks.
One of those trying to inflict a first defeat is Venus De Milo, who was second in the race 12 months ago to The Fugue, also trained by Gosden.
Taghrooda was the first three-year-old filly to win the King George for 38 years so to drop back to opposing her own gender has all the makings of a coronation in the north of England. It is difficult to envisage defeat.
It will be a poignant moment for Paul Hanagan, her jockey who made his name in Yorkshire when the horses of Richard Fahey propelled him to the jockeys’ title in 2010 and 2011.
“To go back there with Taghrooda and show her off is like giving back something to the crowd that has been so good to me over the years,” he told a British racing channel this week.
The Fugue’s passport had been stamped numerous times during an international career that was cut short because of injury this season.
Taghrooda has not needed hers so far and it will be used only in October for her date in Paris, when, unless her high-profile owner decides otherwise, she will try to emulate Sea The Stars, her sire, by winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Sea The Stars won the Juddmonte International here on the wide expanse of the Knavesmire in 2009 before going on to victory in Ireland en route to his Arc triumph.
It is a tactic that Gosden will not look to employ with Taghrooda, whatever unfolds in today’s race, sponsored by Darley.
“If she runs a nice race at York we’ll aim for the Arc, and I think we would go straight there rather than taking in a race such as the Prix Vermeille, which would mean travelling to France twice in three weeks,” Gosden said.
“In terms of herself, I am very happy with her. It should be good racing ground and we are looking forward to it.”
Much as with yesterday’s International Stakes, won easily by Australia, Taghrooda’s reputation is such that few fillies have turned up. Venus De Milo is joined by Tapestry, a stablemate at Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle base who looked to return to something like her best when second in the Irish Oaks, a neck ahead of Luca Cumani’s Volume, who also runs.
Godolphin will be represented by Tasaday, ridden by Silvestre De Sousa for trainer Saeed bin Suroor, while last season’s English Oaks winner has not won in seven starts since scoring at Epsom last season.
Outsider Lustrous is the only other runner.
Should Taghrooda make the Arc, she is unlikely to meet Australia there after the dual Derby winner simply had far too much for the small, but select field in the International.
Fresh from a midsummer break of 58 days since he won the Irish Derby, Australia comfortably held off The Grey Gatsby, the French Derby winner, by two lengths under Joseph O’Brien.
Telescope was a similar distance behind in third, while Mukhadram was a bitter disappointment in fourth for Sheikh Hamdan, who watched the race in person.
Australia has stretched out to 2,400m twice to secure his brace of Derbies, but the 2000m here suited him much better, and he is now likely to stay at the distance for next month’s Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, with a possible tilt at the Champion Stakes at Ascot a month later.
“The truth of the matter is that taking him back to a mile and a quarter shows the speed he has got and Joseph said after the race you take him back to a mile and it would be perfect for him,” part-owner Michael Tabor said.
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