John Murtagh confirmed his red-hot streak of classic form when his chance ride on Petrushka turned into a superb victory parade in yesterday's Kildangan Stud Irish Oaks.
Murtagh, already with a double Derby strike on Sinndar under his belt, illuminated his year even further as the Michael Stoute-trained filly sauntered home by five and a half lengths from the heavily backed favourite Melikah.
Not since Pat Eddery won on Commander In Chief and Wemyss Bight in 1993 had a rider completed the Derby-Oaks double and it was 15 years before that that Greville Starkey did his double on Shirley Heights and Fair Salinia.
Eddery missed the Petrushka ride after starting a prolonged ban yesterday, but it was Petrushka's original rider, Kieren Fallon, who gave a typically direct pep-talk to Murtagh beforehand.
"Sit and wait, and if things go right in the race she'll piss up!" said the British champion, who remains on the sidelines following his horror fall at Royal Ascot that resulted in extensive shoulder injuries.
Fallon wasn't wrong. Murtagh was content to sit just off the funereal pace set by Littlepacepaddocks, and as the likes of Kalypso Katie and Melikah struggled to get into a challenging position, Petrushka was travelling noticeably well.
As if that wasn't enough, Murtagh then secured a dream run up the rails and Petrushka shot clear from Melikah, with the 100 to 1 shot Inforapenny securing a gallant third. Kalypso Katie faded to a disappointing fifth.
"This is unbelievable, just so lucky," enthused Murtagh, who was adding to previous Oaks victories on Ebadiyla (1997) and Winona (1998.) "She's a special filly. There wasn't much of a pace until we raced downhill but she was always travelling so well."
It was an astounding sixth Irish Oaks for Stoute, who first struck the classic mark with the Starkeyridden Fair Salinia, the filly that controversially secured the race in the stewards' room from Sorbus.
"We knew Petrushka was good, but it's good that she's had an opportunity to show it. Nothing went right at Epsom when she kept being pushed back and pushed back through the field," said Stoute, who said admiringly of Murtagh: "He's always been a high-class rider and he's riding with great confidence now."
It was a much more satisfactory classic outcome for Stoute, who saw his Irish Derby horse, King's Best, pulled up with a serious leg injury. Stoute was able to report "satisfactory" progress on the colt but was slow to commit Petrushka to any future targets.
"The Yorkshire Oaks is an obvious target but we have to think about the backend of the season too," he said.
Doncaster's Park Hill Stakes is a likely target for Melikah, while Inforapenny's rider Kevin Manning enthused: "She really kept galloping and ran some blinder."
Kalypso Katie's rider, George Duffield, admitted to being disappointed and reported: "She travelled well to get me there but emptied quickly. In the end I was struggling to get fifth."
The winner was a £110,000 Goffs purchase by Highclere Racing Ltd, who have also raced the champion sprinters, Lake Coniston and Tamarisk. "She was a big investment but it has really paid off," grinned the group's spokesman Harry Herbert.
Murtagh had earlier confirmed his current status as one of the most in-form jockeys in Europe as Mick Channon's English raider Pan Jammer comprehensively reversed previous form with the odds-on Pirate Of Penzance in the Anglesey Stakes.
"He's as lazy as anything identical to his old man, Piccolo, who I trained too," said Channon. "He's in the Gimcrack and I wouldn't be against running in the Heinz - if he's in it!"
Saffron Walden drifted alarmingly in the market for the Minstrel Stakes and the punters were proved right as the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner only just sneaked third behind the comfortable winner Shibl.
Kevin Prendergast's winner got home by two lengths from McDab, with another couple of lengths to Saffron Walden. The favourite, Kermiyana, was only fifth.
