With Arc weekend [Sept 30-Oct 1] not far away, Ireland’s pioneering trainer recalls a hugely talented filly who won the Prix de l’Opera before putting her male counterparts in their place at Keeneland in 2020
As part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series, the Prix de l’Opera Longines at ParisLongchamp on Sunday October 1 is a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for the $2m Maker’s Mark Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita on November 4. There are five Breeders’ Cup Challenge races on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe card.
The pros and cons of keeping a filly in training after they’ve won at G2 and G3 level as a three-year-old need to be weighed up very carefully.
Staying on the racetrack for another season normally requires forfeiting one of that filly’s limited opportunities to breed, while only a G1 win will add significantly to her value as a broodmare in years to come.
However, in the case of Tarnawa, Dermot Weld had no doubts whatsoever. “Tarnawa could have gone to the paddocks after winning three Group races as a three-year-old,” explains the legendary Irish trainer.
“But I know the family well and they improve with age. Also she was a very sound filly; that was the reason we kept her in training as a four-year-old, and it proved to be very beneficial.”
That statement might be regarded as an understatement, Tarnawa, owned and bred by the Aga Khan, went through 2020 unbeaten in four races, and three of them were at G1 level.
They included the Prix de l’Opera, one of five races on Arc card with ‘Win and You’re In’ status for the Breeders’ Cup, and she went on to claim the Breeders’ Cup Turf during the Covid-hit 2020 meet at Keeneland, on both occasions displaying a devastating change of gear.
Autumn campaign
With her four-year-old campaign geared towards the autumn, Tarnawa’s reappearance was delayed until August, when she made short work of eight opponents in a G3 event at Cork that she had also won at three.
Then came Longchamp’s Prix Vermeille on Arc trials day where Christophe Soumillon the Aga’s retained rider in France, rode her for the first time. Here, despite a massive jump in class, Tarnawa ticked the crucial G1 box in ready fashion, so in that respect it was ‘job done’. However, as it turned out, she had barely started.
“Tarnawa put in a spectacular performance when winning the Vermeille and then went back to Longchamp three weeks later and did the same in the Opera,” says Weld. “It was a very good renewal of the Opera that year, and one of the best ever according to the ratings of the runners. Tarnawa was exceptional that day.”
She was indeed. In a race run on heavy ground, Tarnawa was drawn on the wide outside in a field of 12 headed by the Coronation Stakes winner Alpine Star, who had subsequently finished runner-up in the Prix de Diane and the Jacques Le Marois.
Typical confidence
Ridden with typical confidence by Soumillon, Tarnawa began her effort only as they straightened for home but then showed a te
rrific burst of finishing speed to collar Alpine Star in the shadows of the post, with the Prix Jean Romanet winner Audarya in third and the easy Prix Saint-Alary winner Tawkeel fourth.
In the winner’s enclosure Weld mentioned the Filly & Mare Turf as the preferred Breeders’ Cup option – as might be expected, as the Longchamp contest conferred a guaranteed expenses-paid place in that race.
However, once the dust had settled it was decided to aim even higher, for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf, which offered double the prize-money.
Looking back, Weld says: “Tarnawa would have gone to Keeneland anyway, but the Prix de l’Opera’s ‘Win and You’re In’ status was very helpful and encouraging so far as the Breeders’ Cup was concerned.”
With its three turns and firm ground, the Keeneland scenario could scarcely have been more different to heavy going at right-handed Longchamp – and there was an additional and unexpected late problem when Soumillon tested positive for Covid and was barred from riding.
Luckily an outstanding substitute was on hand, albeit one with rather less experience of racing in America than Soumillon. Make that no experience of racing in America.
Step forward Colin Keane, who had been engaged in a fierce duel at home with Shane Foley for what would be his second Irish jockeys’ title. Keane was at present Keeneland only to partner Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Siskin for his boss Ger Lyons in the Mile.
“I’d never been to the Breeders’ Cup before, and in fact it was my first trip to America,” Keane says. “I was out there having lunch with Shane Foley, just the day before I think, when the phone rang and it was Mr Weld calling from Ireland, asking if I could ride Tarnawa as Christophe had failed a Covid test.
Right place, right time
“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time I guess. I’d only ever ridden once for Mr Weld before” – as a raw apprentice more than eight years previously – “and I’d never worn the Aga Khan’s silks before. That was a massive privilege in itself.”
If Keane’s confidence was dented by Siskin’s poor run in the Mile behind Order Of Australia – another of Soumillon's intended mounts – it certainly didn’t show.
Whereas Tarnawa was drawn on the wide outside in the Opera, she was close to the rail this time, in danger of getting boxed in. Luckily, Manny Franco was keen to lead from his wide draw on Channel Maker and he set a pace which enabled Keane to settle Tarnawa exactly where he wanted her, with just two behind on the first turn.
That’s pretty much where she stayed until the home turn, where she swung wide and began a charge up the middle of the track which saw her reel in Channel Maker inside the final furlong.
She won going away by a length from six-time G1 winner Magical, who had been second to Enable in the corresponding race two years earlier, with Channel Maker, a standing dish in the Turf, just a nose further away.
No real plan
Keane, who had no opportunity to sit on the filly beforehand, says: “There was no real plan but Mr Weld warned me 
that she could be slow away and also that she liked a bit of space, so I’d be better going up the inside or the outside rather than in between.
“I was just to take it as it comes and that’s kind of how it happened. Halfway down the back I gave her a click and she jumped into the bridle, so I thought ‘we’re going okay here’.
“We were still towards the back on the wide outside turning in, but she quickened up very smartly. Very few fillies who get a trip have that kind of turn of foot. I think that’s why she was so good.”
It was a brilliant climax to a wonderful season, and Keane had played his part superbly. As Weld’s son Mark said at Keeneland on the day: “Colin is not the champion jockey of Ireland for nothing.”
… and after the Breeders’ Cup
Tarnawa ended 2020 officially joint-highest rated European older filly, alongside Enable and Magical. With a Breeders’ Cup race and two of Longchamp’s most prestigious G1s under her belt she had little left to prove, but once again it was felt there was more to come and so the paddocks could wait.
Weld says: “She was an exceptionally brave and courageous filly with a great turn of foot, and she’d proved herself a world-class filly with three consecutive Group 1 wins. The obvious target was to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as a five-year-old, and I have no doubt she would have done it but for very heavy ground on the day.
“She was beaten only three-quarters of a length by Torquator Tasso, who wasn’t considered on the day but to be fair came back and ran another very good race 12 months later. It was only just about raceable, and remember she’d won on very firm ground at Keeneland.
“To get beaten so narrowly in those very different conditions shows just how tough and genuine she was, and remember she was racing on the worst ground on the inside, whereas the winner came on fresh ground down the outside. She ran the race of her life I’d say.”
Tarnawa went back to the Breeders’ Cup Turf, this time at Del Mar, but there was no fairytale ending. She finished eleventh of 14 behind Yibir, Weld concluding that “her supreme effort in the Arc had taken its toll and the Breeders’ Cup probably came too soon.”
On her retirement to the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud, she was covered by Frankel but sadly produced a dead foal. She is now in-foal to the Aga Khan’s leading French-based sire Siyouni, who has had such a fantastic last couple of years, with Sottsass, St Mark’s Basilica, Paddington, and of course Tarnawa’s half-sister Tahiyra.
As a four-time G1 winner already, the three-year-old Tahiyra has far exceeded Tarnawa’s achievements at the same stage, and her recent win in Leopardstown’s Matron Stakes came in another ‘Win And You’re In’ contest for the $2m Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see her defending the family name at Santa Anita?
• Visit the Breeders’ Cup website and the Breeders’ Cup Challenge web page
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