Above The Curve Adds Another Win to Record In G2 Blandford
American Pharoah’s Group I-winning Above The Curve (3f American Pharoah x Fabulous, by Galileo) added another group win to her resume on Sunday with a determined victory in the 1 ¼ mile Group II Blandford Stakes.
Racing on the yielding Curragh turf, Above The Curve raced in midpack outside the field early on before moving up to the fourth position after a few furlongs. The American Pharoah daughter held that position for the majority of the race until Ryan Moore started urging her with a quarter mile to go and Above The Curve picked up.
The filly had to dig deep near the line to hold off Gleneagles’ 5-year-old daughter Insinuendo but had her neck in front at the line with Caravaggio’s Galleria Borghese in third.
“I was going to her ride her patiently, but the pace was slow and I ended up handy,” Moore told Irishracing.com. "She has obviously got an awful lot of ability, she's a lovely filly to ride. You'd think she would only improve from today. She has a nice attitude and was just doing enough when she got there."
Above The Curve has won three of her five starts with on the board finishes in the other two for trainer Joseph O’Brien and Westerberg and the Coolmore partners, her co-owners and breeders.
“She's a classy filly, a Group I winner, and I think her attitude really showed in the last 100 yards, she put her head out and fought it out,” O’Brien said. “She's an impeccably bred filly and I've been really lucky with the American Pharoahs, he's done really well here in Europe particularly. You could see this filly's attitude in the last furlong when the going was getting tough, she put her head out and fought all the way to the line, beating a very good filly.”
O’Brien indicated that the filly is likely now heading to next month’s Group I Prix de l'Opera in search of a second Group I victory.
Above The Curve is a full sister to American Pharoah’s multiple Group III-placed Thinking Of You and out of a half-sister to European Horse of the Year and Ashford’s champion sire Giant’s Causeway. A daughter of the great Mariah’s Storm, Fabulous is also a half-sister to Group II winner and bluehen mare You’resothrilling – dam of the aforementioned Gleneagles among four Group I winners - and six other stakes performers.
Two of Fabulous’s other sisters produced three-time Group I winner Decorated Knight and Group II winner Storm The Stars.
Fabulous has a Justify 2-year-old filly, a yearling full sister to that one, and foaled a Justify colt this year.