Garden of Eden blossoms in Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot
Garden Of Eden continued her progress to provide trainer Aidan O'Brien with a record sixth victory in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The Ballydoyle handler saddled three runners in the Group Two contest, with Ryan Moore siding with Garden Of Eden (7-1), who struggled in successive Group races in the spring but raised her game to claim a Listed prize at Naas on her most recent appearance.
Island Hopping was deployed in a pacesetting role, but her early exertions took their toll from the home turn, while Garden Of Eden galloped on powerfully up the straight to score by three and a quarter lengths from Understudy, with 2-1 favourite Catalina Delcarpio back in third.
O'Brien said: "I was impressed with that, I'm delighted. She's getting better which is great.
"We always thought stepping up in trip would help her and we stepped her up to a mile and a quarter the last day and she improved a lot.
"She's by Saxon Warrior and when they go up in distance they do get better so she obviously improved for the step up.
"The Irish Oaks would be a possibility, but she could also go to America for a Grade One over there, we will have to see."
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Irish Independent
11 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Garden blooms for Aidan O'Brien on first try over a mile and a half in Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot
Having raced handily behind runaway front-runner Island Hopping, Moore produced his mount to lead entering the final two furlongs and the daughter of Saxon Warrior cleared away to win by three and a quarter lengths. The lightly raced Understudy (40/1) stayed on from off the pace into second, with the 2/1 favourite Catalina Delcarpio half a length further back in third. A Listed winner at Naas last time, Garden Of Eden was providing O'Brien with a third consecutive Ribblesdale Stakes, following Warm Heart (2023) and Port Fairy (2024). O'Brien said: 'I was impressed with that. Garden Of Eden is getting better, which is great. We always thought stepping up in trip would help her. We stepped her up to a mile and a quarter the last day and she improved a lot. 'She is by Saxon Warrior and, when they go up in distance, they do get better. The Irish Oaks would be a possibility, but she could also go to America for a Grade 1 over there – we will have to see.' Moore said: 'Garden Of Eden was very impressive. She has been gradually improving. Aidan kept saying every time she steps up, she will get better. 'We went a hard pace and got a bit detached. She kind of dropped the bridle and ran in snatches. Billy [Lee on the favourite] sneaked down the inside but, when I asked her to quicken, Garden Of Eden quickened very well. Just typical Aidan – he keeps making them better." Understudy's co-trainer Thady Gosden said: 'She has run a very nice race there. It was only the third start of her life. She won well at Southwell last time out and it was a change of scene here today. She is a homebred of Bjorn Nielsen's, with a very good pedigree. When they are upped as much in grade that quickly, you're not quite sure how it will go, but we hoped she would run a good race, and she has.' Paddy Twomey said of the third: 'Catalina Delcarpio is a lovely filly and ran a career best. She probably just didn't see out the trip today, but I think when she is a little bit stronger and a little bit older, she will. She is just coming into herself and I think she will be a very good four-year-old. We side-stepped Epsom and races like that on purpose, because I think it was coming too soon for her. I doubt I will run her in the Irish Oaks. Maybe something like a Blandford Stakes on Irish Champions weekend, something like that, over 10 furlongs.'
Irish Examiner
11 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
No weather worries for O'Brien as temperatures rise at Ascot
With Royal Ascot baking in the sunshine, and temperatures set to be even hotter for the final two days of the showpiece fixture, Aidan O'Brien has praised all involved in horse welfare this week. And the master of Ballydoyle also allayed any fears the equine athletes on show would find conditions unduly oppressive, despite the mercury rising. O'Brien said: "Horses love heat, it's in their nature and when you are training horses they thrive in the heat and in the cold they don't always try, they don't like the cold weather. "Heat is always an advantage for horses and as long as there is plenty of water at hand, you would prefer it to be warm — if you asked the horse what weather he would like, I would know what he would say. "Ascot do an incredible job and we've had beautiful weather this week. I promise you, if you are training horses you would see the difference. When it's warm horses train better and get bigger and stronger, they eat better and drink better. When it's cold they put all their energy into keeping warm, so it's better it is warm any day." Dr Sally Taylor, head of equine regulation, safety, and welfare for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), told ITV Racing: "The most important thing to realise is horses are very able to acclimatise to hot weather. When horses sweat it is their primary mechanism of losing heat, as the sweat evaporates it takes with it the heat so that is what you see when a horse sweats at the start. "When they finish racing we are able to mimic that process by applying cold water and creating a breeze. Ascot does a fantastic job, there is iced water available, horses are supervised by vets at all stages of their journey across the racecourse and they have state-of-the-art fans here to create a breeze."
Irish Examiner
13 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Garden of Eden blossoms in Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot
Garden Of Eden continued her progress to provide trainer Aidan O'Brien with a record sixth victory in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot. The Ballydoyle handler saddled three runners in the Group Two contest, with Ryan Moore siding with Garden Of Eden (7-1), who struggled in successive Group races in the spring but raised her game to claim a Listed prize at Naas on her most recent appearance. Island Hopping was deployed in a pacesetting role, but her early exertions took their toll from the home turn, while Garden Of Eden galloped on powerfully up the straight to score by three and a quarter lengths from Understudy, with 2-1 favourite Catalina Delcarpio back in third. O'Brien said: "I was impressed with that, I'm delighted. She's getting better which is great. "We always thought stepping up in trip would help her and we stepped her up to a mile and a quarter the last day and she improved a lot. "She's by Saxon Warrior and when they go up in distance they do get better so she obviously improved for the step up. "The Irish Oaks would be a possibility, but she could also go to America for a Grade One over there, we will have to see." Read More Charles Darwin lives up to his billing in Norfolk Stakes
