Ratings Update: Pinatubo erupts!

Sunday’s National Stakes at the Curragh has been won by the likes of George Washington, New Approach, Dubawi and Dawn Approach since the turn of the century, though none of those put up a performance to rival that of Pinatubo (134p from 125p) who dealt a nine-length beating to the Futurity Stakes winner Armory (remains on 110p) with Coventry Stakes winner Arizona (109 from 112) just behind in third, Pinatubo storming clear with William Buick barely needing to pick up his stick. Either of the Ballydoyle pair behind him would have been very viable winners of the race in a normal year.

Five runs
Five wins
A very special racehorse

The opposition aren't even in shot as Pinatubo storms clear to win the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes for @godolphin Charlie Appleby and William Buick#LICW19 @curraghrace pic.twitter.com/BBFV0EaT0X

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) 15 September 2019

As at Goodwood, where his impressive Vintage Stakes win (which is working out well) already set a very high standard for the time of year, Pinatubo's Curragh success came in a very fast time - in this case nearly two and a half seconds quicker than the Moyglare Stud Stakes earlier on the card - and even a conservative estimate of this performance results in a figure in the mid-130s, second only to Celtic Swing's twelve-length Racing Post Trophy success in 1994 in the list of Timeform two-year-old ratings in the modern era. With the champion two-year-old title as good as wrapped up, Pinatubo bids to make it six out of six in the Dewhurst next month. For anyone wondering where Frankel fits in, incidentally, he was rated 133p at the end of his two-year-old season, which he too concluded in the Dewhurst, though his best performance was his ten-length win in the Royal Lodge Stakes.

If Pinatubo put up the individual performance of Irish Champions’ Weekend, then Ballydoyle took the team prize, the National Stakes a rare occasion when Aidan O’Brien had to settle for place money. Saturday’s Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown resulted in a Galileo-sired one, two, three for the stable (its first win in the race since 2011) with Arc-bound Magical (remains 125) ending a run of seconds (twice behind Enable) in beating fellow four-year-old filly Magic Wand (119 from 116) and Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck (remains 123).

No Enable, no problem!

Magical lands the Irish Champion Stakes!

Ryan Moore stays out of trouble to complete a treble and Aidan O'Brien has his fourth success of the day at @LeopardstownRC #LICW19 pic.twitter.com/Sh4ackb73B

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) 14 September 2019

In what wasn’t a vintage renewal, Nassau Stakes winner Deirdre (121 from 120), the first Japanese horse to run in Ireland, was fourth, but she might have given the winner something to think about with a clearer run, while things didn’t go right after a slow start for Headman in fifth (122+ from 117p), though he too improved his rating and looks well worth another try at Group 1 level.

O’Brien also had the one-two in Sunday’s Flying Five Stakes when three-year-old fillies Fairyland and So Perfect (both 118 from 113) were split by just a short head. That was Cheveley Park winner Fairyland’s first win of the year, and neither of them had been a match for Battaash, whom they’re likely to meet again in the Prix de l’Abbaye, in last month’s Nunthorpe.

Ballydoyle’s third Group 1 of the weekend came in the Moyglare Stud Stakes in which Love (108p from 103) stayed on well (heads next for the Fillies’ Mile) to account for Albany Stakes winner Daahyeh (106 from 104) and her stable-companion So Wonderful (103 from 100) who is still a maiden. While it doesn’t look a vintage Moyglare, which O’Brien had won eight times before, the winner is likely to be even better when her stamina is tested more fully.

Others to contribute to Aidan O’Brien’s excellent weekend were Japan’s brother Mogul (110p from 105p) who was very strong in the betting though rather workmanlike in winning the KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes, and Norway (116 from 110) who got off the mark for the season with a change to more patient tactics in the Paddy Power Betting Shop Stakes over a mile and a half. Sinawann (109p from 92p), a scopey colt out of a half-sister to Derby winner Sinndar, kept on well for second behind Mogul and looks another one to follow next year, while in Norway’s race, his stable-companion Mount Everest (116p from 111p), shaped with plenty of encouragement on his belated reappearance and will be of interest for the rest of the year.

Not for the first time in her career, Iridessa (119 from 114), trained by Joseph O’Brien, denied O’Brien senior another Group 1 win when beating 1000 Guineas winner Hermosa (118 from 119) and another Ballydoyle filly Just Wonderful (117 from 109) in the Matron Stakes, the winner running her best race back at a mile after trying longer trips, while the runner-up bounced back from her poor run at Goodwood. 2018 winner Laurens (121 from 123) was the disappointment here in fourth.

Galileo repeated his Irish Champion Stakes feat by also siring the first three home in the Irish St Leger the next day, though this time it was Dermot Weld who trained the winner, the only three-year-old in the field Search For A Song (121p from 110p) proving headstrong early on but following up her Galtres Stakes win at York with a beating of last year’s St Leger winner Kew Gardens (remains 127).

Full replay and reaction: Search For A Song provides Dermot Weld with his eighth victory in the Irish St Leger at @curraghrace 🏆 #LICW19 >>>https://t.co/MOagtNWfa8 pic.twitter.com/uhRtJWBeAU

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) 15 September 2019

The weekend’s remaining pattern races fell to Space Traveller (118 from 117), winner of the Boomerang Stakes at Leopardstown for Richard Fahey, and Tarnawa (112 from 111) who won her third such race of the year in the Blandford Stakes at the Curragh. The latter represented the Weld/Aga Khan combination which also struck on the first day with another filly, the progressive Kastasa (106p from 104p), who completed a hat-trick in the Petingo Handicap over an extended mile and a half, while the best handicap performance over the two days came from Buffer Zone (115 from 108), winner of the Bold Lad Sprint Handicap over six furlongs at the Curragh.

Meanwhile, with three weeks to go until the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Longchamp staged its trials meeting on Sunday. Best performance there came from Waldgeist (remains 127) who only had three rivals to beat to repeat last year’s win in the Prix Foy for older horses. He was beaten only a couple of lengths at most behind Enable in last year’s Arc as well as in the King George this season and Andre Fabre can be counted on to have him at his peak in three weeks’ time.

He got through in the end! Sottsass has a nightmare trip but wins the Group 2 Qatar Prix Niel for @CristianDemuro and Jean-Claude Rouget at @paris_longchamp pic.twitter.com/22p1CYDY6i

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) 15 September 2019

Prix du Jockey Club winner Sottsass (remains 123p) also looked to have a straightforward task in a small field for his trial, the Prix Niel, but he got into all sorts of trouble when hemmed in up the home straight, looking to be in an impossible position before showing a smart turn of foot when a gap finally opened well inside the final furlong. An unexposed colt, he’d be one of Enable’s more interesting rivals assuming that run brings him on.

Although it attracted Europe’s three major Oaks winners, the Prix Vermeille is unlikely to have a bearing on the Arc, but it was yet another top fillies’ race this season to fall to the Enable team of Frankie Dettori and John Gosden, Dettori making all on Irish Oaks winner Star Catcher (116 from 115), tactics which her rider had pulled off to such good effect at the Curragh.