Sariska makes big waves in Oaks

CURRAGH REPORT:IT'S HARD to be mad at someone who makes you laugh and even Fran Berry must have had a grin on his face as Jamie Spencer waved goodbye to him during Sariska's victory waltz in yesterday's Darley Irish Oaks.

Certainly most of the Curragh crowd couldn’t help chuckle at as audaciously easy a Classic victory as is imaginable.

Sariska may have only just beaten Midday at Epsom but on gruellingly heavy ground she completed the Oaks double with such aplomb that Spencer literally did wave farewell to Berry on the runner-up, Roses For The Lady. Midday struggled home third.

Paul Carberry performed a similar waving performance when Beef Or Salmon beat Best Mate one Christmas at Leopardstown but that was at the end of a three-mile chase.

Ground conditions might have been similarly bog-like yesterday but to see a Classic race won so easily was startling.

The only comparison is possibly Colorspin’s easy saunter to Irish Oaks glory in 1986 but Pat Eddery’s mount never did anything worth a damn afterwards. Sariska managed to win just as easily and gave the impression that odds as short as 8 to 1 for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe may not be too far off the mark.

“I was going to win by a neck but I thought ‘better not!’ ” grinned Spencer afterwards. “That was push-button stuff. It’s very exciting to win a Classic like that and not even come out of second gear. Fran’s a good friend of mine so I thought I’d give him a wave!”

The Irishman, twice successful previously in the Curragh 1,000 Guineas, added: “It’s only her fifth start and I’m sure there is more to come. She worked seven furlongs last Wednesday and Michael (Bell) said it’s a question of not if she wins but by how far.”

The only subsequent doubt in the Newmarket trainer’s mind was the heavy ground but Sariska lived up to her pedigree by thriving on it and will now be aimed at the Yorkshire Oaks.

“It’s dangerous to be bullish but she has been working so well. We will get York out of the way first and then we will see about the Arc. The Breeders’ Cup Turf is an option as well,” Bell said.

“She would have to be supplemented for the Arc but you want to take on the best – and she is such a good filly – it would be insane not to have a dart at it.”

Roses For The Lady’s role appeared to be cutting out a strong pace for her stable companion Beauty O ’Gwaun but that one dropped away dramatically before the straight and Berry’s initiative would have been rewarded only for Sariska.

“She is very tough and something like the Park Hill could be ideal for her,” said John Oxx, who reported that the racecourse vets found nothing wrong with Beauty O’Gwaun. “She has no history of bleeding but when they stop like that you have to check it out.”

Midday never looked happy and her trainer Henry Cecil reported: “With the ground, she wasn’t able to quicken, although I feared the winner would improve and she won very easily. I wouldn’t want to take her on again. We might go to Goodwood for the Nassau.”

Tommy Stack won the Anglesey with Myboycharlie two years ago before that colt went on to win the Prix Morny and the Deauville Group One is also a possible target for yesterday’s Anglesey heroine Walk On Bye.

“She is also in the Lowther but her big target is the Goffs Million over six. She probably doesn’t want to go much beyond six furlongs right now,” said Stack’s son “Fozzy”.

The Classic-winning jockey Séamus Heffernan has lodged an appeal against the four-day ban he picked up at Gowran Park on Friday night for his controversial ride on Drumbeat.

Heffernan was found guilty by the stewards of an “injudicious” ride on the Aidan O’Brien-trained even money favourite who finished runner-up to his stable companion Hail Caesar.

Afterwards Heffernan described the decision as a “joke” and said: “I got four days for a ride on a very ungenuine horse that has to be ridden from the back and that can’t get to the front. It was a small field and the winner got away. I thought it was ridiculous.”