You Got To Me wins Irish Oaks on eventful day at Curragh – The Irish Times

You Got To Me, the mare affectionately known as “Madwoman” by her jockey Hector Crouch, emerged victorious in an eventful Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Saturday.

The 15-2 winner, trained in England by Ralph Beckett, was able to hold on to his lead of three half-lengths over the unlucky favourite Content (3-1), while Purple Lily came third.

In the largest Oaks field in 14 years, several runners had to contend with traffic problems, most notably Content, who followed the winner down the straight but had to be caught by Ryan Moore at a crucial point.

While Crouch successfully made her way through the field on “You Got To Me,” Moore had to take a step back, and although Content ultimately mastered her first step on the mile and a half course without any problems, she eventually ran out of ground.

You Got To Me finished fourth to Ezeliya in the Epsom Oaks and then finished the same behind Port Fairy in the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot, but the considerable stakes support was justified by classic glory in style.

For Crouch (27), it was the first success in Group One. He himself had been unlucky in the previous Sapphire Stakes on Makarova and had finished third behind the winner Believing, ridden by Moore.

“To be honest, I’m a little emotional, it means a lot to me. I’ve always had a lot of faith in her, she’s a little crazy but when she’s good, she’s very good. I can’t believe it, it’s unbelievable.

“I had a pretty good round and was able to jump off the fence with three laps to go. I had a pretty smooth two and a half laps. Then it was a question of whether she was good enough to hold on and she was every inch good enough,” said the English rider.

It was also a nice success for Beckett, whose Bluestocking had already looked like the winner of the race 12 months ago, but was stopped by the late advance of Savethelastdance.

Bluestocking had returned to the Curragh three weeks earlier to claim her first victory in the Pretty Polly Stakes, while Westover had already won the 2022 Irish Derby at headquarters for the Hampshire trainer.

“It didn’t really work out in the Oaks and in the Ribblesdale, a downhill start over 12 furlongs at Ascot, she went a bit too hard – these things can happen.

“A tongue tie probably helped her today, but it just gave her something else to think about. Hector said he had to push through everywhere to get into position and keep it. She’s a very brave filly.

“The plan was to be in front and start from the top of the hill but you always have to have a plan B. Hector is not a man to panic and he knew after five strides what was going to happen and rode a race that suited her,” commented Beckett.

The hapless Content failed to become the 100th Group One individual stallion sired by the late Galileo, but on her first attempt on this journey she may yet reach that milestone sometime this season.

Ryan Moore was unlucky in the Oaks, but he got the better of him in the following Comer Group Curragh Cup when Tower Of London dramatically overtook his stablemate Grosvenor Square just yards from the finish line.

Grosvenor Square and jockey Gavin Ryan quickly built up a lead in the Group Two and seemed to leave the field behind on the straight.

Vauban, the 11-8 favorite, was the first to try to catch up, but only Tower Of London managed to close the gap to 17-2 and eventually won by a small margin.

“I thought to myself, ‘Don’t get there too early!'” Moore joked.

“He’s a great horse and it was certainly interesting. We gave the leader far too much leeway. We want to make sure we ride him with a bit of confidence and let him finish his race today after his run at York.

“He was a great horse at the start of the year and is great fun. He has a lot of options,” he added.

These options include a return to the Curragh in September for the Irish Leger and a possible trip Down Under for the Melbourne Cup.

“Ryan has done a great job on him. He could come back here for the Leger. He’s a great horse and can travel anywhere, he loves to travel. He could be a Melbourne Cup horse. He could be anything,” said Aidan O’Brien of the full brother of Irish Derby winner Capri.

Moore made the wrong choice in the opening race for young horses, when Wayne Lordan scored an impressive debut success with The Lion In Winter. Moore finished third with the favourite Ides of March.

Bought as a yearling for €375,000, the son of Sea The Stars impressed O’Brien, who said: “He has worked beautifully and is very pleased with him. He has plenty of class and would have no problem extending the trip.”

“He was a little inexperienced but did very well and looks like a top-class colt. Ryan said his horse was more fast than stamina, so he could return to the race.”

Curragh specialist Big Gossey secured his sixth racecourse victory in the €100,000 David Power Memorial Handicap, scoring points for trainer Charles O’Brien.