Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Tarnawa due for a good run
With a little luck, or even an assist from Irish stewards in September, and better weather in Paris last month, Tarnawa would be in the midst of an unbeaten season in advance of Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar.
Tarnawa, who won the 2020 BC Turf at Keeneland, was second by three-quarters of a length in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in Ireland on Sept. 11. She was carried out in the stretch, but a lengthy inquiry resulted in no change in the order of finish. In the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in Paris on Oct. 3, Tarnawa had a far from ideal trip on heavy turf she did not seem to enjoy, and still was second by three-quarters of a length to Torquator Tasso.
Where was Tarnawa’s luck when she needed it most?
“Don’t get me going on that,” trainer Dermot Weld said last week, with a laugh.
“A win in the Arc would have been special. Taranwa is one tough individual. She fought like a lioness. We came up short in ground that was extremely testing.”
A victory in the $4 million BC Turf would make Tarnawa the first repeat winner of the race since Conduit in 2008-2009. Despite the close recent losses, a win is well within Tarnawa’s reach. She will be favored against an international field.
This year, Weld, well known for his worldwide success the last 30 years, is on hand at Del Mar. In a stay-at-home autumn of 2020, Tarnawa won at Keeneland without Weld, who watched from Ireland while his son Mark directed Tarnawa’s final preparation.
“It was a special occasion,” Dermot Weld said recently. “We were expecting a good run, but winning was an extra bonus. It was exciting.”
Weld, 73, won the 1990 Belmont Stakes with Dare and Go, a first American Triple Crown win for a European stable, and three years later won the Melbourne Cup in Australia with Vintage Crop. Nowadays, it is common for European stables to raid Australia’s leading races, but that was not the case when Vintage Crop won. Weld followed his own trend by winning the Melbourne Cup a second time in 2005 with Media Puzzle.
In the early 2000s, Weld won stakes at Hollywood Park, including the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes and American Oak, and three runnings of the American Derby at Arlington Park.
Weld won the Irish Derby for the third time with Harzand in 2016. Earlier that month, Harzand gave the stable its first English Derby win.
“I was one of the first to travel horses around the world,” Weld said. “We were very fortunate we won two Melbourne Cups. We’ve won on the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest [in the United States].”
Tarnawa, a 5-year-old mare by Shamardal, has won 9 of 17 starts and earned $4,453,302, all for the Aga Khan. She has started 11 times in Ireland, three times in France, twice in England, and once in the United States. Of her six trips away from Ireland, Tarnawa has won three Grade 1 or Group 1 races and been second once.
“She’s developed every year,” Weld said.
Tarnawa weighs a few pounds more than this time last year, but that is not an issue for Weld.
“She’s a very professional racehorse,” Weld said. “This is what enables me to travel to different countries because of her strong mental attitude.”
Tarnawa was a three-time group stakes winner in Ireland as a 3-year-old in 2019, but struggled in two Group 1 races in England that year. In 2020, Tarnawa was unbeaten in four starts, rising in prominence as the year progressed with wins in consecutive Group 1 races in France – the $426,500 Prix Vermeille at 1 1/2 miles in September and $351,500 Prix de l’Opera at 1 1/4 miles on the same program as the Arc de Triomphe.
In the 2020 BC Turf, Tarnawa closed from eighth of 10 to win by a length over Magical, the 2-1 favorite.
In a current season designed for peak efforts in autumn, Tarnawa began her 2021 campaign with an easy win by 6 1/2 lengths at 1-2 in the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Leopardstown on Aug. 5. With a little good fortune in her subsequent starts, Tarnawa could have won a Group 1 already this year.
“I think she could be slightly better this year,” Weld said.
“She’s a very brave filly, very tough and genuine. When she came back from Paris she was tired for a week and we let her have a nice, easy time and I took my time bringing her back.”
Tarnawa will be retired at the end of the year.
In the last two months, Tarnawa nearly won Ireland’s leading flat race for older horses and Europe’s richest race. The goal on Saturday is to conquer America – again.