Date posted September 8, 2010 | Posted by Michele Cullen | Filed under
Racing and Breeding,
Sales NewsCape Blanco was the star of a top class days racing at Leopardstown last Saturday when making all the running to win the Group I Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes.
The Irish Derby winner set a strong gallop over the 2000m trip under Seamie Heffernan and when he quickened the tempo again turning for home he had all his rivals in trouble. His stable-mate Rip Van Winkle (Galileo - Looking Back by Stravinsky) took the runners-up cheque five-and-a-half lengths away.
Trained by Aidan O’Brien who claimed his sixth win in one of Ireland’s most prestigious races, Cape Blanco will now be set for the Group I Champion Stakes (at Newmarket), the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and then the Breeders’ Cup at the end of the season.
By Coolmore stallion Galileo, Cape Blanco is out of the useful sprinter Laurel Delight (by Presidium), a half-sister to the high-class sprinter Paris House.
Despite the abundance of speed in the family, there is no doubt about Cape Blanco’s ability to get middle distance trips at championship level.
Bred in Tipperary by Jack Ronan and Des Vere Hunt, who took him to Goffs sale as a yearling in 2008, where he sold to the bid of Demi O’Byrne for €330,000, on behalf of the Coolmore team.
Saturdays win pushed Cape Blanco’s earnings past the €1.5 million mark. Then add his potential value as a future stallion prospect and he could be considered a bargain.
The result is a nice boost for the upcoming Goffs Orby Sale (28-30 September).
