Irish tilt for Taghrooda and Tarfasha after English Oaks show

Paul Hanagan steered Taghrooda for a comfortable victory over her rivals as they won the English Oaks at Epsom. Charlie Crowhurst / Getty Images

LONDON // Taghrooda and Tarfasha will be aimed at the Irish Oaks at the Curragh next month after the fillies owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid dominated the English Oaks on Friday.

Taghrooda beat Tarfasha by almost four lengths at Epsom and Angus Gold, the Shadwell Racing manager, spoke with the owner on Saturday to plan the next step.

Gold said yesterday that both fillies came out of the race in fine shape, and providing there are no hiccups along the way, will line up in the Irish Classic, which is sponsored by Darley, the breeding operation of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Taghrooda was bred by Shadwell. Her dam, Ezima, was bought for £336,000 (Dh2.1 million) by Gold on her retirement from racing. Stephen Collins, the general manager of Sheikh Hamdan’s Derrinstown Stud, in Ireland, saw the promise of Tarfasha as a foal and paid €200,000 (Dh1m) for her at auction.

Given the pair won £410,602 for their efforts at Epsom, the two transactions appear to be good business, due to the fillies’ future breeding value and with more races to come. “It doesn’t get any better,” Gold said.

Cirrus Des Aigles could be out for at least two months after his heroic Coronation Cup win from fellow French raider Flintshire on Saturday.

The remarkable 2012 Dubai Sheema Classic winner chalked up his sixth Group 1 success, and third consecutive victory at the highest level this season, when beating the former Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe favourite by two lengths.

The eight-year-old gelding showed little sign of fatigue with his latest triumph, but perhaps age is beginning to catch up with the globe-trotting warrior.

Cirrus Des Aigles changed his lead legs in the straight as he fought bravely to hold off Flintshire, and although he appeared to be racing within himself, he finished the race lame.

Jockey Christophe Soumillon felt the need to dismount immediately after the race, and trotted his charge around beyond the finishing post for several minutes.

Cirrus Des Aigles was checked over by racecourse vets before being admitted into the winners’ enclosure and was monitored throughout the night before his departure from Epsom at 3am yesterday. On arrival in Chantilly, he underwent an X-ray that found a shadow.

He will undergo another X-ray this week. “He had some medication yesterday, he has not had any since and he seems well this morning,” trainer Corine Barande-Barbe told the Press Association.

Barande-Barbe had pencilled in another run in the Grand Prix De Saint Cloud next month before she left Epsom. Now October’s Champion Stakes are the ultimate aim.

“It is difficult to say at the moment, but I think I will probably give him one month or six weeks off and look to the autumn. We have to be careful with him,” the trainer said.

“It is hard to say anything for certain, but if he recovers well, in my opinion, we could aim for the Champion Stakes, with maybe one run before. But we really will have to wait and see.”

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