Aidan O’Brien continued to overwhelm all opposition in the season’s main events here on Friday, as Roly Poly made all the running to take the Group One Falmouth Stakes and give the trainer his 11th success at the highest level in 2017. The form book suggests that Roly Poly is not even the best three-year-old filly in O’Brien’s stable, and if his current rate of progress is maintained, Bobby Frankel’s record of 25 Group One wins in a calendar year will soon come under serious threat.
There was a sense of inevitability about Roly Poly’s success from the moment that Ryan Moore’s partner broke quickly from the stalls and settled in front against the stands’ rail. Wuheida and Sea Of Grace, the only opponents to attract any significant support against the 6-4 favourite, both attempted to mount a challenge inside the final quarter-mile but Roly Poly kept finding more to beat them off, eventually crossing the line a length-and-a-quarter in front of Wuheida.
Wuheida had been off the track since winning the Group One Prix Marcel Boussac on just the second start of her career last October, and seems certain to progress from her belated return. Roly Poly is also improving, however, thanks at least in part to fast, midsummer ground, though neither filly seems likely to prove a match for Winter, a three-time Group One winner already this year, as the season unfolds towards the autumn’s championship events.
“It was pretty straightforward,” Michael Tabor, one of the Roly Poly’s co-owners, said. “She loves this ground, that’s for sure. Ryan said when he came into the paddock that he thought the best thing would be to take her to the front, and she did it well. She’s a tough, hardy filly, she’s small but she battles well and this surface really suits her.”
Tabor is well aware that 26 Group One winners this year would beat Frankel’s record, which was set in 2003. O’Brien was available at 10-1 to set a new mark at the start of the season, but is now just 6-4 to do so with Paddy Power.
“Let’s hope there are many more [this season] as long as we all stay healthy,” Tabor said, “and hopefully we’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup [at Del Mar] at the end of the year with a good few more and hopefully win some there. You’ve always got to be trying to get to the top of the mountain, but you never reach it.
“Bobby Frankel was a great trainer and a lovely man, but obviously it would be nice if Aidan could achieve that and beat it, which you’d have thought he would in time if they all stay healthy.”
Clemmie, who is a full-sister to Churchill, this year’s 2,000 Guineas winner, and named after Sir Winston Churchill’s wife, could well chip in with a Group One victory later in the season and looked like a potential Classic winner herself as she took the Group Two Duchess of Cambridge Stakes earlier on the card.
Clemmie moved alongside Nyaleti, the runner-up in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, with just over a furlong to run and had stretched nearly two lengths clear of her main market rival at the line. A step up to seven furlongs seems sure to bring more improvement from Clemmie and the Group One Moyglare Stud Stakes in September is one obvious possibility for her next start.
“You have to be impressed,” Tabor said. “She’s improving all the time, and six furlongs and more will suit her. You’d hope that she’d get to the top, she’s a full sister to Churchill and you can’t ask for better than that. She’s a filly to look forward to, simple as that. She won as if she wanted seven furlongs and hopefully she will be a Guineas horse next year.”
Clemmie is generally an 8-1 chance for next year’s 1,000 Guineas, just a point behind her stable companion September, who beat Nyaleti by two-and-a-quarter lengths in the Chesham.
O’Brien sent three runners to the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris at Saint-Cloud on Friday evening, but only Venice Beach, a 10-1 chance, made it into the frame as Shakeel denied Mark Johnston’s Permian in the final stride.
Permian set out to make all the running under William Buick and fought off several challenges in the home straight, but had no chance to respond as Shakeel and Christophe Soumillon arrived to claim the prize on the nod.
Chris Cook’s Saturday tips
Newmarket 1.45 Sizzling 2.15 Inshiraah 2.50 City Of Joy 3.25 Tabarrak 4.00 Aqabah 4.35 Tasleet 5.05 Silken Dancer
Ascot 1.40 Puchita 2.10 Kyllang Rock 2.40 Banditry 3.15 Mittens 3.50 Mutakayyef 4.25 Christopher Wood 5.00 Euro Nightmare 5.35 Saluti
Chester 1.50 Ginbar 2.25 Queen In Waiting 3.00 Jungle Cat 3.35 Here And Now 4.10 Parys Mountain 4.40 Cornborough 5.10 Valentino Boy
York 1.55 Arcanada 2.30 Barsanti 3.05 Master Carpenter (nap) 3.40 Royal Household 4.15 Judicial 4.45 Theydon Grey 5.15 John Kirkup
Salisbury 5.50 Strategic 6.20 Swanton Blue 6.50 Robin Weathers 7.20 Mamdood 7.50 Solo Mission 8.20 High Wells 8.50 Standing Rock
Hamilton 6.05 Undercover Brother 6.35 Dutch Dream 7.05 Kenny The Captain 7.35 Northwest Frontier 8.05 Detailed (nb) 8.35 Pronounced 9.05 Sweetasever
