Daughter of Sea Siren lands Ribblesdale Stakes for O’Brien and Moore
The Aidan O’Brien-trained Warm Heart (Galileo) continued on her steep upward curve when she landed the Ribblesdale Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 4f) at Royal Ascot yesterday.
A daughter of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) and three-time Australian Group 1-winning mare Sea Siren (Fastnet Rock), the three-year-old headed into yesterday’s contest on the back of two wins and a runner-up placing from four outings, including in the Fillies’ Trial Stakes (Listed, 1m 2f) at Newbury last start.
Always prominent throughout, the filly was pushed along to lead with two furlongs left to run and quickened away from her 16 rivals, staying on well inside the closing stages to draw two and a quarter lengths clear of runner-up Lumiere Rock (Saxon Warrior). The Ralph Beckett-trained Bluestocking (Camelot) finished a further one and a quarter lengths back in third.
“In her previous race they went real hard, while in this race they didn’t. She’s a very straightforward filly and it all worked out,” jockey Ryan Moore said.
“It’s very hard here and you need the little things to work for you. Sometimes the ball bounces for you and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s racing.
“She’s definitely a better filly today [compared to her previous run at Newbury] – it was up to a mile and a half. It wasn’t a strongly run race so we haven’t answered the question [of whether she truly stays the longer trip] but she’s won a lovely prize today.”
Yesterday’s success for Warm Heart takes O’Brien’s current record-breaking tally of winners at the royal meeting to 84.
“She ran at Newbury over a mile-and-a-quarter and we thought that maybe that was as far as she was going to get,” the winning trainer said.
“We didn’t know when she got to the front whether she would run out of stamina or if she wouldn’t stay, but obviously we saw she probably doesn’t want to get to the front too early – she got the trip very well today; Ryan gave her a beautiful ride, so I’m delighted.
“She’s out of a great mare and usually those fillies with good pedigrees do improve, physically she’s doing great.”
Warm Heart (3 f Galileo – Sea Siren by Fastnet Rock) is a sister to the Group-placed winner Celestial Object and fellow scorer Arbutus, being the fifth foal out of Sea Siren.
Sea Siren landed the BTC Cup (Gr 1, 1200m), Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1400m), and Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) when trained by John O’Shea and raced by Coolmore, and is herself a half-sister to Australian Group 3 winner Oratorio (Stravinsky).
The filly once again exemplifies the potency when daughters of Fastnet Rock (Danehill) were mated to the operation’s perennial stallion, the late Galileo, with Warm Heart one of 21 winners from 27 runners bred on this cross. Eight of those winners have scored at stakes level, with the octet headed by Group 1 winner Russian Emperor.
In 2022, Sea Siren foaled a colt by Camelot (Montjeu). She he has since returned to Australia and was covered by Coolmore Stud-based sire Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) last September.