Pleascach targets Prix de l’Opera after York Oaks win

Kevin Manning rides Pleascach, left, to the win at the Darley Yorkshire Oaks at York racecourse on August 20, 2015 in York, England. Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images

York // Pleascach is likely to stay in training next year following her resurgent run in the Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday.

Pleascach became Godolphin’s third winner of the Group 1 race when she came with a late surge under Kevin Manning to down Irish Oaks winner and long-time leader Covert Love.

It was her first win since her victory in the Irish Guineas in May, and she is set to cap her season with a run in the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp in ­October.

Trainer Jim Bolger trained Pleascach’s sire, Teofilo, the former champion juvenile, as well as Teofilo’s dam, Speirbhean and Pleascach’s dam, Toirneach.

He is totally immersed in the family, therefore, and suggested after the race that he would like to race Pleascach on as a four-year-old.

John Ferguson, Godolphin’s bloodstock adviser, is in ­agreement.

“Looking at her she is a filly with a lot of scope and she is not one of those ones that you want to rush off to the breeding shed, and looks like she will get better from three to four,” he said.

“If Jim wants to keep her in training you have to listen to him, you would be mad not to. I know Sheikh Mohammed has huge respect for him, and quite rightly so.

“Jim said in the paddock before the race that he felt she was really back.

“You can’t always tell when a filly is wrong, but you can tell when they are really right and she proved it.”

Pleascach’s win put the seal on a fine performance from UAE-owned horses across the week, with Storm The Stars’ gutsy win in Wednesday’s Great Voltigeur a particular highlight.

In racing it is rare for a horse to fight off more than one challenger, but Storm The Stars grittily kept on down the long Knavesmire stretch first breaking the hearts and souls of Giovanni Canaletto, Tashaar and then finally Coolmore’s Bondi Beach.

Such was the Herculean effort that he gave Bondi Beach a few bumps along the way and carried his rival across the track during the closing stages.

In the parade ring the son of 2009 Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Sea The Stars sweated up badly and, although he is clearly talented, it is fair to say he is also extremely quirky.

Much like Pleascach, Storm The Stars is likely to stay in training for owner Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook after he contests the St Leger at Doncaster next month. It is a challenge that trainer William Haggas is looking forward to.

“If he was a human, he’d have green hair, earrings in his ears, nose and eyebrows – he is a rebel to society,” the trainer said.

“He went for a racecourse gallop last Friday and when I got there he was running loose and playing games.

“He is tough and when the chips are down he goes for it, which is all you want really.”

Down at Sandown yesterday former Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford saddled his first winner at group level when Abdullah al Masoori’s First Selection won the Solario Stakes.

The race has been won in the past by champion miler Kingman and Raven’s Pass, who subsequently won the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Classic and First Selection could also require his passport.

“He has got an incredibly enthusiastic owner who picked him out at the breeze-up sales and I think he will want to take him to Dubai for the UAE 2000 Guineas,” Crisford said.

“He’s got the sort of action to think he will go well on the sand.”

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