Tag Archive for: Cercene

Murphy so proud of Cercene and gallant Nassau effort

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Joe Murphy could hardly have been more proud of Cercene following her second-placed finish in a gruelling renewal of the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.

A deluge of rain turned the ground heavy and lightning in the area made it impossible for the starting stalls to be utilised, with a flag start instead required in the exceptionally challenging conditions.

Aidan O’Brien’s Whirl, the 6-5 favourite, justified that status with a five-length win, but behind her was 11-1 shot Cercene under rider Gary Carroll.

Murphy has often sought quick ground for the chestnut, who won the Coronation Stakes at 33-1 on good to firm at Ascot, but in torrential rain she showed just how tough she is with an admirable run in second, on her first try at a mile and a quarter.

“We were delighted with the filly, Gary said she was wheel-spinning on the ground and she still ran a great race,” said Murphy.

“We do know she needs good ground but just she’s just sheer courage, she’s a wonderful thing.

“She’s unbelievable, she really is. No words can describe how genuine and honest and tough she is. She loves life.

“She gets the trip no problem, but I think we’ll go back for the Matron (Stakes, over a mile at Leopardstown) and hope the ground is good.

“She’s the best filly I’ve ever trained and I’ve had some really good fillies.

“She just comes out on top, you could see for yourself the courage. Pure courage. I am proud, I’m proud of everyone. I’m proud of myself as well!”

On whether he considered withdrawing her when the rain fell so heavily, the trained quipped: “When you look at the prize pot and see the cheque you could get… we need the money!”

Andrew Balding’s See The Fire was the third-placed horse at 5-2 under Oisin Murphy, beaten six and a quarter lengths in total.

“Conditions weren’t ideal obviously, but who is to say we would have beaten the winner anyway?” said the trainer.

“She didn’t have a terribly hard time and seemed OK afterwards. We will kick on to York for the Juddmonte International.”

Cercene taking distance test in Nassau Stakes

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After giving Joe Murphy the finest hour in his long training career at Royal Ascot, Coronation Stakes heroine Cercene steps up in trip in search of further honours in the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.

The experienced Irish handler has always thought of his star performer as a stayer in the making, but having excelled at a mile has so far been kept to no further than eight furlongs.

However, after Cercene’s thrilling victory at the Royal meeting, Murphy now scratches his long-held itch to move up in distance, where he is confident the daughter of Australia can hold her own once more in elite company.

Trainer Joe Murphy and jockey Gary Carroll celebrate
Trainer Joe Murphy and jockey Gary Carroll celebrate (David Davies/PA)

“We were very happy with her since her last run and we’ll find out how we get on up in trip, so it will be a learning curve,” said Murphy.

“She’s so relaxed, we always thought she would be a mile-and-a-half filly but she proved us wrong by being so good at a mile. We’ve options we could try over those distances before the season ends, so we’re looking forward to running and we’re fortunate we have her.

“We have her in the Matron Stakes just in case she doesn’t get the trip, but if she does it opens up more options for us and I do think she will stay.

“This is another test and another Group One. She’s been third in a Guineas and won at Royal Ascot so she deserves to take her chance and plenty will be revealed by Friday.”

Whirl is a major player in the Nassau Stakes
Whirl is a major player in the Nassau Stakes (Brian Lawless/PA)

If Cercene is to add a second Group One to her resume, she will have to crack the Ballydoyle duo of Whirl and Bedtime Story who will bid to give Aidan O’Brien a sixth victory in the 10-furlong feature, having also taken home the spoils with Opera Singer 12 months ago.

Bedtime Story showed the ability that made her such an exciting juvenile last term when second in the French Oaks last month.

However, it is Oaks runner-up Whirl who will carry chief Coolmore hopes having downed Andrew Balding’s subsequent King George second Kalpana in tremendous fashion to claim the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.

“She’s a very straightforward, honest filly, she’s so uncomplicated it’s not funny,” said O’Brien.

“It was the obvious race for her and it isn’t over facing her, it’s baby steps her way and that’s why she’s coming here. We’ve been very happy with her since the Pretty Polly.”

See The Fire ran a big race in last year's Nassau Stakes
See The Fire ran a big race in last year’s Nassau Stakes (Mike Egerton/PA)

Balding takes another crack at Whirl, this time with See The Fire, who was thwarted by a neck in this race last year and reverts to competing against her own sex after a fine third behind Ombudsman in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

“She has started this year in fabulous form and was very impressive in the Middleton, winning a Group Two in easy fashion. And then we thought she ran a super race at Ascot against the boys in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes,” said Balding, ahead of a race that guarantees a spot in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar.

“As a three-year-old we didn’t see the best of her until we got to the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood where she was narrowly beaten. Then she went on and won the Strensall Stakes against older colts at York.

“There is evidence to suggest she is improving all the time, and she certainly looks to have done physically. She is an exciting filly, and hopefully the best is to come.”

John and Thady Gosden’s five-time scorer Running Lion completes the line-up, running at this distance for just the second time since her second in last October’s Prix de l’Opera.

Murphy monitoring Goodwood going for Nassau hope Cercene

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Ground conditions are likely to dictate whether Cercene will take on the likes of See The Fire and Whirl in what looks a quality renewal of the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood on Thursday.

Just seven fillies remain in contention for the 10-furlong Group One following the confirmation stage, with Aidan O’Brien’s Oaks runner-up and Pretty Polly Stakes winner Whirl the 6-4 favourite with Coral.

The Andrew Balding-trained See The Fire is next in the betting at 7-4, having finished third against the boys in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, where Joe Murphy’s Cercene ran out a surprise winner of the Coronation Stakes over a mile.

With connections of the latter subsequently deciding against stepping up to a mile and a half for the Irish Oaks, she is set to run over the intermediate distance on the Sussex Downs, with Coral making her an 8-1 shot, but Murphy is keeping an eye on underfoot conditions.

“The plan is to go for the Nassau, ground permitting – we don’t want any rain,” he said on Friday.

“We’re very happy with the filly, but if there’s any soft in the ground I couldn’t see her going. Good/good to firm would suit us perfect.

“We thought going the mile and a quarter would be better for future reference, rather than going straight to a mile and a half (in the Irish Oaks). We’ve no problems with a mile and a half as she’s a very relaxed filly, but she travels well.”

On handling the undulations of Goodwood, Murphy added: “She’s a very well balanced filly and we don’t envisage any problems with it, but you don’t know until you try.

“There’s only one Nassau, it’s a good race and they’re the races you want to win.”

Whirl is one of two potential runners for O’Brien along with French Oaks runner-up Bedtime Story, with Karl Burke’s Fallen Angel, John and Thady Gosden’s Running Lion and Gavin Hernon’s potential French raider Dare To Dream the other hopefuls.

Nassau now looks set to be next for Cercene

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Joe Murphy is now favouring heading to Goodwood with his Coronation Stakes winner Cercene over the Irish Oaks.

In the immediate aftermath of the popular success at Royal Ascot, connections raised the possibility of supplementing the diminutive filly for the Curragh Classic.

However, Murphy’s enthusiasm to step up half a mile in trip appears to have cooled and the Visit Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood looks favourite, followed by the Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes on Irish Champions Festival.

“She came out of Ascot very well and we are very happy with her,” said Murphy, whose filly was a 33-1 winner at the showpiece meeting.

“We were thinking of going to the Juddmonte Irish Oaks with her, but we might be leaning towards the Nassau now and then from there we would definitely be looking to go on to the Matron Stakes at the Irish Champions Festival.

“The reaction to her winning the Coronation was unbelievable. I got over a thousand texts. I think people got a great kick out of it. As I said before, it was liking winning an All-Ireland medal. I waited 50 years to get the first Group One but the thing is, when you’ve gotten one, you want two, isn’t that it?

“Cercene is continuing to improve it seems, which is what you like to see, so we’ll look forward to what is to come.”

Irish Oaks bid on the cards for surprise Coronation winner Cercene

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Cercene could be supplemented for next month’s Juddmonte Irish Oaks following her surprise Coronation Stakes success at Royal Ascot.

Third behind Lake Victoria in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, the daughter of Australia took her game to another level on the penultimate day of the Royal meeting, finishing powerfully under Gary Carroll to get the better of French Guineas heroine Zarigana as a 33-1 shot.

While the result was a shock to many, trainer Joe Murphy expected a bold showing.

He said: “If you go back and look at the Irish Guineas, she was the only filly that passed three horses over the last furlong. If they went another furlong, I’m not saying we’d beat the Ballydoyle filly (Lake Victoria), but we could have been second and there’s no harm being second best to her.

“I’m delighted with the way she came home, she licked the pot and we’re thrilled with her.”

With Cercene yet to race beyond a mile, Murphy admits to having doubts about whether her stamina will stand up to the mile and a half of the Irish Oaks, but feels it could be worth rolling the dice.

Trainer Joe Murphy and jockey Gary Carroll celebrate with the Coronation Stakes trophy
Trainer Joe Murphy and jockey Gary Carroll celebrate with the Coronation Stakes trophy (David Davies/PA)

“We have our Group One in the bag now and she’s finished third in a Group One and second in the Athasi Stakes from seven runs, so we’re in a very happy place,” he added.

“We’re thinking of supplementing her for the Irish Oaks. We’ll probably make an entry for the Nassau in Goodwood as well, but we have to figure out the timing.

“The Pretty Polly this weekend comes too soon after Ascot. You could go over a mile and a quarter in the Nassau, but you’re taking on older fillies, whereas in the Oaks you’re only taking on your own age group.

“She has her Group One, so if she doesn’t stay I’ll take the blame and we’ll go back (in trip) and start the engine again.”

The Fethard-based trainer also has big plans for the second half of the season, with a trip to California in early November very much on the agenda.

Murphy said: “We have have the Matron Stakes (at Leopardstown) and then probably the Breeders’ Cup, so that’s the programme going along. We’re looking forward to the Breeders’ Cup as we think she’ll handle it – she’s very well balanced and tough and honest.

“The dream is more alive than it was before Ascot.”

Monday Musings: Ten Grand Poms

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After the Betfred Derby, I catalogued the astonishing price drop of what was no doubt expected to be one of the jewels of the Coolmore breeding operation, writes Tony Stafford. Australia, winner of the 2014 Epsom and Irish Derby, started the 2025 breeding season with a tag of €10,000 with only a couple of his flat-race oriented shed-mates offered at a lower figure.
When you consider he was the son of Galileo and another Classic winner, and a good one at that in Oaks heroine Ouija Board, his slump in popularity was way outside the norm for a Coolmore stallion.
His price was just 3.3%, for example, of that required for the services of Wootton Bassett in the same results-based academy. His lack of attention is generally put down to less than ideal precocity of his progeny, but Derby winner Lambourn would have pricked up a few industry ears. If he follows up in next Sunday’s Irish Derby, for which he is currently a 4/6 shot, the rehabilitation would have scurried along a little further.
I related how I’d heard that Aidan and Anne Marie O’Brien had been his staunchest followers, contrary to the perceived industry wisdom at the time, and Royal Ascot’s final two days would have given the champion trainer and his wife further cause for satisfaction.
On Saturday at Ascot, I bumped into someone who reckoned we’d met in the same spot there probably three years ago. His Royal Enclosure name tag, Shane B Stafford, inevitably caught my eye, and when this big Australian guy told me he owned a chunk of Friday’s Coronation Stakes winner Cercene, a nice story began to unfold.
My “cousin”, or more probably “nephew”, has extensive racing interests back home in Aus but has Cercene trained by Joseph Murphy in Ireland where he has a couple of properties.
There wasn’t the slightest fluke in her win on Friday, Gary Carroll sending the 33/1 shot off in front. When she appeared to have been bested by the promoted French 1.000 Guineas winner Zarzana and Mickael Barzalona, who came with apparently a perfectly-timed challenge, she simply battled back in the closing stages up the inside rail to win by a neck.
It didn’t take long for Shane in true Aussie style to downplay the achievement (unlike so many in the racing game). “Lake Victoria wasn’t here, so we might have been lucky.”
Lucky or not, she picked up the first prize of £411,572, adding to one previous win and four places in a seven-race career to date. Her 33/1 price seemed over-generous, considering she was only a 20/1 shot the previous time out when third to said Lake Victoria in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.
Just as we were finishing off our conversation, marvelling that Australia, regarded solely as a stamina influence by many, could have had a Group 1 success – and a big one at that – at a mile, there was another notification that his star is firmly in the ascendency.
Saturday’s top sprint, the 6f Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes was won by Jerome Reynier’s Lazzat. The 4yo by Territories was winning for the eighth time from only 11 career starts. His dam, Lastochka, you guessed it, is by Australia! She won over a mile on debut for Roger Varian but had just two more runs before retiring. Those speed genes, so hidden for so long, are coming to the fore. Not unnaturally as Australia won two of his three two-year-old starts at seven furlongs and a mile.
M Reynier caused something of a stir before his win. After his Facteur Cheval (a 25/1 shot) had finished sixth in Wednesday’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes behind impressive Gosden-trained Ombudsman, the youthful monsieur, offered some Gallic fire to the proceedings.
He suggested that Flavien Prat, his fellow countryman, although one that has plied his trade in the United Stakes for many years, had made a right Flavien of himself, giving the horse one of the worst rides any horse of his has had since he started training. Nice to get a bit of fire and enthusiasm into the deal.
There was fire and heat aplenty all week with temperatures approaching 30 degrees Celsius at times. Sensational performances by the Ballydoyle juvenile colts Gstaad (not entirely anticipated in the Coventry) and Charles Darwin, massively so in the Norfolk. The money was shovelled rather than lumped on and the style of the win was mind-boggling.
Now it’s left for us to wait for the absent from Ascot Albert Einstein to show his face (and pace) when he recovers from the setback that ruled him out of the piece, causing a re-shuffle which made no difference. In between two very easy wins, I reckon we saw a Ryan Moore masterclass on True Love in the Queen Mary Stakes.
Stuck on the flank while the action was all out in the middle, Ryan needed to humour the filly, rousting her along though not resorting to the whip until she got level and then went away to win well. The end of the week juveniles from the team were not quite up to that standard but, as I mentioned earlier, it’s Irish Derby weekend upcoming and we’re sure to see some more smart juvenile talent on show as the master handler sorts his team for that fixture.
Top trainer honours for the meeting deservedly went to the Gosdens, with Field Of Gold seamlessly adding to his Irish 2,000 Guineas success with a romp in the St James’s Palace Stakes. Such is his finishing power, ten furlongs should not be a problem, and you would imagine he’d be hard to beat in the Juddmonte at York in August, probably after a crack at Goodwood’s Sussex Stakes. He’s a proper horse and new retained rider Colin Keane is pretty good too.
There has to be a congratulation though for Field Of Gold's former but now displaced partner Kieran Shoemark, who responded to the uncomfortable sight of his one-time ride picking up another big prize after the Curragh. Ed Walker expressed his delight that he can now use Kieran more often and they did each other a mutual turn with a double on the week, 22/1 shot Never Let Go in Friday’s Sandringham Handicap being followed by Noble Champion, 25/1, in the Jersey Stakes on Saturday.
Back to the Gosdens. The absence of Kyprios after his retirement left the way clear for a new staying star and yet the Gold Cup provided such a triumph for the hardly-new Trawlerman. The seven-year-old is in his sixth season’s racing but has been sparingly and shrewdly campaigned by his trainers, here winning for the ninth time in just 20 starts.
Illinois had been asked to step up to fill his departed mate’s shoes but after getting within reach at the bend, he had no answer to the leader as, under William Buick, he came up the straight in remorseless fashion to win by seven lengths with another seven back to the third, Dubai Future, a nine-year-old gelding. That veteran is trained by Saeed bin Suroor and also for Godolphin.
I could go on forever, but on a week where the honours - riding, training and owning - were spread around nicely, it ended with a general gamble that everyone knew was about to happen.
Willie Mullins booked Ryan Moore for last year’s 115k purchase Sober in the Queen Alexandra Stakes that concluded the meeting. A six-year-old, the gelded son of Camelot has already seen a hurdle, scoring comfortably on debut as befits a previous Group 2 winner in France.
Allowed to take his time, Sober appeared to have three authentic challengers coming to the last furlong, but Ryan opened him up and he went clear to give Mullins a fifth win in the race and the seventh of the week for his jockey. A great week. Don’t know how I stayed sober, but I did.
 - TS

Cercene upstages Zarigana in Coronation Stakes

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Cercene gave jockey Gary Carroll and trainer Joseph Murphy a day to remember when bravely holding off French hotpot Zarigana to land the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Billed as a clash between French 1,000 Guineas winner Zarigana and Owen Burrows’ supplemented Falakeyah, it was the Irish outsider who stole the show to become the race’s longest-priced winner at 33-1.

Falakeyah’s challenge faded tamely having raced keenly, but 6-4 favourite Zarigana looked prime to pounce in hands of Mickael Barzalona and in fact looked to briefly have passed Cercene.

However, Irish 1,000 third Cercene was not to be denied and proved her Curragh performance was no fluke as she battled back to secure a half-length verdict.

Murphy said: “We always liked her. We left her a little longer but good fillies you always leave a little longer, you never put them over.

“He got her switched off, he’s confident and he’s ridden for me 17 years now.

“This is 50 years of work, that’s what it is, of love and care, and all for the owners we have, all our people, it’s just a whole group of people together. This is heaven on earth.

“It’s a lifetime’s ambition to have a Group One winner. She’s by Australia – a sire I love – and her half-brother (Perotto) won the Britannia so the pedigree was there and if she was an inch bigger I wouldn’t have her!

“I was hoping Lake Victoria stayed in because we’d have a lesser race and then we’d have pace and ride her easier, you know what I mean.

“She travelled well, Gary gave her a great ride, and we were thinking that being by Australia she’d stay as well. She was headed and came back again. She waited for something to head her, but she’s very tough and a dream to train. The plan was today so now we’ll draw new plans.”

Jockey Gary Carroll with the winning trophy
Jockey Gary Carroll with the winning trophy (David Davies/PA)

Carroll said: “It’s unbelievable. I’ve been riding a long time now and been placed in plenty of Group Ones. This is my first one and if I was ever to ride a Group One winner it was for Joe Murphy.

“I’ve been riding for him since I was a 7lb claimer and he’s been very, very good to me so I’m delighted I can repay him.

“She ran a blinder at the Curragh where the slow pace didn’t suit. We went a bit better gallop there today, got to the front a furlong and a half out and she waited, the French horse came and headed me; to be fair to this one she’s not big but she’s very tough and she stuck her head out for me.

“It’s hugely satisfying to win a Group One. They’re so hard to come by. Good horses are very hard to come by. To do this, Royal Ascot, magic.

“After the Guineas run, a better run race there she’d have finished closer again, I think she’s taken a step forward from there and she’s ultra-tough, she doesn’t know when to give up.”