Snowfall completed the English and Irish Oaks double as she raced to a comfortable win at the Curragh Racecourse . Snowfall was an 8.5 length winner in the G1 Irish Oaks with Divinely 2nd and Nicest 3rd. Sensational, spellbinding and still the prospect there could be more to come.
It seemed impossible that anything could raise the temperature on a scorching Saturday at the Curragh, but somehow Snowfall – of all elements – did just that with a red-hot Juddmonte Irish Oaks performance. A 16-length demolition job at Epsom ensured her place in history as the most emphatic winner of the Oaks last month, and it only took winning by a little more than half that distance to become the widest-margin scorer of the Irish Oaks since Blakestown won by ten lengths in 1905, Snowfall scoring by eight and a half lengths in the end.
There aren’t always a host of lessons to be learned from Classics won comprehensively by 2-7 favourites – and her opposition may not have been top-notch performers – but this display confirmed at least three things: there was no flash in the pan about her incredible Epsom display, she is in no way reliant on the mud-splattering conditions she encountered last time and, in Snowfall and Love, Aidan O’Brien is responsible for two of the most exciting fillies in the world right now.
“She’s an unbelievable filly with an unbelievable pedigree,” O’Brien said of the first Japanese-bred filly to win an Irish Classic, being by Deep Impact and out of Galileo mare Best In The World. He added of the shortest-priced Irish Oaks winner since Diminuendo dead-heated with Melodist in 1988 at 2-9: “It was a nice, evenly run race and Ryan gave her a beautiful ride. Genetics usually kick in when the pace is strong – you stay or you don’t, you have class or you don’t
“She’s done very well from Epsom physically, she’s got very big and strong. Ryan said she has a lot of speed. She goes very strong and finishes out very well. We always thought fast ground was her thing.”
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