Considered
unlucky when fourth in the Group I Epsom Oaks, three year-old Fastnet Rock
filly Diamondsandrubies rebounded from that performance to win the Group I
Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh overnight.
Prepared by Aidan O'Brien and ridden by Seamie Heffernan, she led throughout in
this 1m2furlong contest and was too strong on the line for English 1,000
Guineas winner Legatissimo.
Winner of the Listed Cheshire Oaks earlier this year, Diamondsandrubies has won
three of six starts.
"She looked very unlucky at Epsom and she's a good filly. In an ideal
world we'd have taken a lead but that wasn't the way it was. She travelled well
and Seamie gave her a great ride - she toughed it out," said O'Brien.
"She was getting a mile and a half well at Epsom, Seamie felt that she was
probably most inconvenienced by the whole thing and he was looking forward to
coming here today with her."
Heffernan added: "I rode her in Epsom and it didn't really swing my way. Sometimes
Epsom finishes a horse and sometimes the good horses thrive on it, so she's a
good horse.
Bred by Richard Henry's wife Roisin Henry, who races her in partnership with John
Magnier's wife Sue, Diamondsandrubies is the first stakes-winner among seven
winners from Group I winning Sadler's Wells filly Quarter Moon, a full sister
to Group I winner Yesterday, both of those fillies placed in the Oaks races of
their year.
UK Racing Post confirmed the quality of Diamondsandrubies - DIAMONDSANDRUBIES , who suffered serious interference when fourth in the
Oaks, gained terrific compensation by reversing form with the Epsom runner-up
in a thrilling head-bobbing finish. She got a well-paced ride from the front,
and had just enough in hand to fight off a challenger on either side. The
regally-bred filly, whose sire Fastnet Rock was also responsible for the Oaks
winner Qualify, was a wide-margin winner of the Cheshire Oaks and has matured
into a top-class performer whose ability to stay 1m4f gives her plenty of
options.
Diamondsandrubies becomes the 21st Group I winner for Coolmore supersire Fastnet
Rock,who will be crowned Australian Champion Sire for the second time at the
end of this season.