SWEET GROU
UP 3 SUCCESS
By John Scanlon
Muraaqaba show
ws strong
turn of foot at Ne
ewmarket
I
T HAS been a while since Mark
trained the winner of Newmarket's
Sweet Solera Stakes, but
Muraaqaba put things right with a
highly impressive victory in this year’s
renewal on August 9.
The seven-furlong race for juvenile fillies is named after Reg Day's Sweet
Solera, winner of the 1,000 Guineas and
Oaks in 1961, and was promoted to Group
3 status in 2004.
Mark's only previous win in the event
came in 1994 when the race had Listed
status, and was provided by Sheikh
Mohammed's Jural. The full story of that
race is recalled in this month's 'Those
Golden Moments'. (p.30)
Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum's
Muraaqaba made an exciting debut in late
June at Newmarket. Sent off the 2/1
favourite, she readily accounted for a field
of 12 maiden fillies, going away by three
and a quarter lengths from John Gosden's
Exceedingly in the closing stages. It was a
run which earned her a tilt at Ascot's
Princess Margaret Stakes, a Group 3 event
in which she started at odds of 15/8, just
shaded in the betting by Osaila from the
Hannon yard.
She failed to sparkle at Ascot, trying to
rally late on before being slightly impeded
in her run, and finished fourth.
Connections were hopeful that she would
be suited by a step up in trip in the Sweet
Solera to seven furlongs, and so it proved.
Godolphin's impressive Newmarket
maiden winner, Winters Moon, was sent
off the 15/8 favourite with Henry Candy's
Listed winner, Alonsoa, next best at 7/2.
The market rated Muraaqaba only fifth of
the seven runners, and Dane O'Neill's
partner was allowed to start at odds of 7/1.
Pat Smullen set out to make all the running on Kevin Ryan's Calypso Beat, as
AWZAAN
2007 horse by Alhaarth
Winner of four races including the
Middle Park Stakes, Group 1 in
October 2009 at Newmarket and the
Mill Reef Stakes, Group 2, in
September 2009 at Newbury.
HAJRAS
2009 gelding by Dubai Destination
Winner of four races, including the
valuable Dubai Duty Free Handicap at
Newbury in September 2012. Finished
second in the James Seymour Stakes,
Listed, in November 2012 at
Newmarket.
MUTEELA
2011 filly by Dansil i
Undefeated in her first four outings.
Won the Sandringham Handicap
(Listed) at Royal Ascot in June. Finished
second in two Goodwood Group 3s in
August, the Queen’s Plate Stakes and
the Doom Bar Supreme Stakes.
Muraaqaba wins the Sweet Solera
Stakes under Dane O’Neill
the field raced in one group up the centre
of the track. Muraaqaba was always
prominent, but when she became one of
the first in the field to come off the bridle
it momentarily looked as if she faced a
stiff task. However, she responded to pressure well for Dane O'Neill, nosed into the
lead with a furlong to go and powered up
the rising ground on Newmarket's July
course to score decisively from Calypso
Beat and Winters Moon. The distances
were one and three-quarter lengths and a
length.
Dane O'Neill told the Klarion that the
step up in trip had been important to the
filly.
"Muraaqaba was a bit green and novicey
as it was only her third start and it was her
first time running in among other horses,"
he explained.
"She will probably get further before
long."
Mark was thrilled with the filly's run, but
did confess to having a few doubts along
the way.
"I thought she was in trouble around
halfway," he told the Klarion, "but she has
never been in among horses before and
once Dane pulled her out, away she
went."
Asked about the trip, Mark agreed that
the step up to seven had been justified.
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MJR-trained progeny of Nufoos
TASFEYA
"The step up in trip has probably helped
as I think the last race at Ascot was a bit
deceptive. We thought that she was very
quick and that she would be able to lead
them on. But they went flat out there, and
in the circumstances she did well to stay
on at Ascot."
The win prompted quotes of 25/1 against
the filly winning next year's 1,000
Guineas. Mark will obviously consult
with Sheikh Hamdan and with his racing
manager Angus Gold, but it seems likely
that, all being well with the filly, she may
be aimed at the Fillies' Mile in
Newmarket in late September.
Three recent winners of the Sweet
2008 gelding by Haafhd
A winner as a two‐year‐old and
placed seven times while in training
with MJR, although he was Nufoos’s
only progeny not to achieve black
type.
Solera, Rainbow View (2008), White
Moonstone (2010) and Certify (2012)
have all gone on to land the Fillies' Mile.
Muraaqaba is by Dubawi out of Nufoos,
and thus a half-sister to the Middle Park
winner Awzaan, Hajras, Muteela and
Tasfeya. Dubawi recently recorded his
50th Group winner in record time, and
this filly has now added to that tally.
Dubawi is also sire of no fewer than four
Group 1 winners this year, headed by the
2,000 Guineas victor Night Of Thunder,
plus a further five horses who have been
placed at the highest level.
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