Group 1 glory for Sea Siren’s Warm Heart
In winning yesterday’s Yorkshire Oaks, Warm Heart (Galileo) provided trainer Aidan O’Brien with his seventh triumph in the contest and the trainer revealed the filly could now be aimed at the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (Gr 1, 10f) at Santa Anita on November 4.
The filly will make her way to America via France and, should the Ribblesdale Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 4f) winner line up in US Grade 1, she will be bidding to give O’Brien and Coolmore a second consecutive success in the race, having landed it last year with another daughter of Galileo, the 2022 Epsom Oaks heroine Tuesday.
“It just didn’t happen in the Irish Oaks. The ground was a little bit on the slow side. She was lovely today. She’s a very classy filly and you saw what she did in the Ribblesdale,” said O’Brien.
“Warm Heart handles this ground very well so it’s not a problem with her. She can do anything, she can go to France, she could end up in a Breeders’ Cup. I don’t think she’d be a St Leger filly.
“Obviously Savethelastdance handles an ease very well, she’s probably better with an ease. It depends what the lads want to do with her, whether they want to go straight to the Arc with her or the Leger. The Leger is only two weeks before the Arc so it’s a little bit close.”
On James Doyle, O’Brien added: “James always rode for us when he was available. Obviously he’s not available very much. He’s a world class rider and a lovely fella. He’s ridden some great races for us and a lot of very high class horses.”
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).
Sea Siren also counts New Zealand Group 2 winner Lady Dehere (Dehere) as a half-sibling and she has proved herself a good broodmare, producing dual Group 2 winner Oracy (Zabeel) and Listed-winning duo Lady Maroal (Power) and The Lady (Stravinsky). Stakes-placed Ruthless Lady (Keeper) is another of Lady Dehere’s daughters, and is the dam of last season’s Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Ruthless Dame (Tavistock).
Warm Heart is the fifth foal and fourth winner out of Sea Siren, making her a sister to the Group-placed winner Celestial Object and winner Arbutus, while her other brother, Bremen, broke his maiden for Aidan’s son Donnacha at Killarney last month.
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 24 winners from 28 runners bred on this cross. Eight of those winners have scored at stakes level and Warm Heart joins fellow Group 1 winner Russian Emperor as the other elite-level winner bred on this nick.
In 2022, Sea Siren foaled a colt by Camelot (Montjeu). She he has since returned to Australia and she recently produced a colt by Coolmore’s dual Group 1 winner, Home Affairs (I Am Invincible).