Rosallion leads home Hannon one-two in Irish 2,000 Guineas
The first Classic of the Irish flat season came to a thrilling conclusion
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Rosallion edges out stablemate Haatem in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh
Rosallion pipped stablemate Haatem to the post in a thrilling renewal of the Irish 2,000 Guineas which ended in a one-two for trainer Richard Hannon.
The odds-on favourite had plenty to do entering the home straight but turned on the afterburners to justify the short price and upgrade his second place in the English equivalent at Newmarket.
Hannon’s father won the race three times between 1987 and 2010 and the victorious trainer was delighted to follow in his footsteps.
“We have built him up quite a lot and it’s nice to see him win a classic,” Hannon said.
“He won a Group 1 as a two-year-old and he’s always been a little bit special.
“Both horses ran the race of their lives, Rosallion had to make a lot of ground up and to do that was impressive.
“Standing there after second and third in the English Guineas was utterly galling. Today more than makes up for it.”
Haatem was also bidding to complete a father-son double, having been sired by 2019 winner Phoenix of Spain, and was well placed under Jamie Spencer – who had earlier claimed Group 2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenland Stakes honours on Mitbaahy.
But Sean Levey picked his moment to strike on the favourite and revelled in landing the opening Classic of the Irish flat season.
“The track has always been good to me and I’ve had good winners here,” he said. “But I’ve never had a horse like that or a chance like that, so it’s nice to come over and have it pay off.
“My worry was Haatem would be a lot better on this track and would take all the beating and I wasn’t far wrong.
“He was building perfectly towards the line but my horse’s turn of foot got him out of trouble.
“He found something and he picked up. He felt exceptional in his last four strides before the line.”
Both will now head to Royal Ascot, with Rosallion bidding to turn the tables on his English 2,000 Guineas conqueror Notable Speech in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
“It’ll be a great race,” Hannon said. “Haatem’s day will come. There’s a lot of good races in him.
“Aidan (O’Brien) came up and shook my hand, the man is a genius and he’s very hard to beat but today is our day. We are delighted.”
The day’s other Group race went the way of Arizona Blaze, who upset odds-on favourite Camille Pissarro in the GAIN Marble Hill Stakes for trainer Adrian Murray.
Winning jockey David Egan said: “I’ve always loved the horse.
“He’s always been showing good signs and he might have won a tad easier if
I hadn’t been restraining him for the first 100 yards.
“He’s a horse with a big stride and I made the decision to use it, and
I’m glad I did. He did really well to fight back and he doesn’t go down without a fight.”
Elsewhere, Rachael Blackmore landed a notable flat victory by opening her career account at York.
The Tipperary trailblazer steered home 4/1 shot Term Of Endearment for Henry de Bromhead in the G3 William Hill Bronte Cup Fillies’ Stakes for her first Group win on the flat.