Make Haste has speed to enter the Ascot frame
Brazil-born trainer Diego Dias is dreaming of Royal Ascot glory after Make Haste made an impressive winning debut in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Naas.
The daughter of Blue Point showed a smart turn of foot in the closing stages to score at 16-5 under Gavin Ryan, prevailing by three and a quarter lengths from 13-8 favourite Tommy McJohn.
Dias, who struck at Goodwood earlier this month with juvenile Brosay, said: “She is a quick filly and I was very impressed with her today.
“We thought a lot of her at home. Gavin said they could only take her to the three-furlong pole and after that, he just had to let her go.
“We didn’t run her in the Curragh last week because of the soft ground and we thought she’d be better on this ground.
“We like to think she is a Queen Mary filly. We’ll talk to the owners and see if she will run again before that.”
One Smack Mac looked another with a bright future when making a winning racecourse bow in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden.
The son of Kodiac was the 8-11 favourite and pleased trainer Ger Lyons in what he did.
“He’s a nice horse. He did what we thought he’d do, but he’s doing everything so easy at home, so he was greener than we imagined he’d be. If he wasn’t as good as he is, he’d have got beat through greenness.
“There should be huge improvement in him.
“We’ll let him tell us. Six [furlongs] will be his minimum and I’d say he could step up. He’s a horse with a future.”
The feature Al Shira’aa Racing Irish EBF Jannah Rose Stakes saw Sea The Boss take Group 3 honours for Jessica Harrington, as she swooped from last to first in the hands of Shane Foley, collaring Madame Celeste for a neck triumph.
Harrington said of her 7-2 winner: “She was good last year and I just ran her back too quick after the Champions Weekend. She doesn’t go on soft ground.
“It was a big ask for her, with three of them having already had a run this year. I thought fitness might catch her out, but she was good and stayed well.
“She has a turn of foot and showed us that last year when she won her maiden. It’s only her fourth run and she will come forward a good bit from this. She might end up in the Irish Oaks and will be moving up to a mile and a half.”
Meanwhile, One Look can book her ticket for the Irish 1,000 Guineas with victory in the Group 3 Al Shira’aa Racing “Mutamakina” Stakes at Leopardstown today.
Paddy Twomey’s unbeaten filly caused something of a sensation when winning the Goffs Million on her racecourse debut last season, in what was her only juvenile outing.
She reappeared in a small race at Cork in March, winning readily at the prohibitive price of 1-20 but promising to improve for it, with Twomey using that spin as a stepping stone towards bigger targets, the first of which is this weekend.
“She’s in top form and we’re looking forward to Sunday,” said Twomey.
“She won well on debut at the Curragh and then she went to Cork at the start of the year and won again — and she’s trained well since.
“We’re looking forward to running her on a bit of nicer ground this weekend and to getting her out again.
“It was very heavy ground at Cork. It was great to win, but that race was all part of her training programme.
“That’s done, hopefully we’ve got nice ground on Sunday and away we go. We’re happy with her.”