Ezeliya gave jockey Chris Hayes and breeder The Aga Khan a first Betfred Oaks success. (Screen shot)
43 Years After His First Win; Weld famously won the Belmont Stakes with Go And Go in 1990
By Breandán Ó hUallacháin
Breeders’ Cup and Belmont Stakes-winning trainer Dermot Weld won the Betfred Oaks at Epsom with the Aga Khan-bred Ezeliya.
Weld, who famously won the Belmont Stakes with Go And Go in 1990, delivered a 16th victory for Ireland in the Epsom Oaks, a race he first won 43 years ago.
Ezeliya (13/2), a daughter of Darley stallion Dubawi, was a first British classic victory for the successful Irish rider Chris Hayes, and a first for Weld since Harzand won the Betfred Derby in 2016, when ridden by the late Pat Smullen.
It was a 1-2 for Dubawi as another daughter, the Charlie Appleby-conditioned Dance Sequence (7/1) took the runner-up spot, three lengths behind her half-sister in the one mile four furlongs fillies’ classic, while 50/1 outsider War Chimes came home a further length and a half behind the second-place finisher.
There was disappointment for the Aidan O’Brien-trained Coolmore partners-owned favourite Ylang Ylang (11/8) who spent most of the race at the rear of the field with her stable companion Rubies Are Red (12/1). The daughter of Frankel was never in serious contention in the race and crossed the line a disappointing sixth in the 12-runner contest.
For Weld, who won the race with the Lester Piggott-ridden Blue Wind in 1981, it was a special moment:
“It’s a few years since I won the Oaks before, but I haven’t had many runners and I had Tarfasha finish second to Taghrooda a few years ago (2014). It’s been a lucky place for me as I won the Derby too with Harzand and I rode and trained an amateurs’ Derby winner too.
“When Harzand won the Derby a few years ago it wasn’t as enjoyable as we had a few problems with the horse, but this was very enjoyable today.”
Speaking to the media after his most recent Group 1 success, Dermot Weld said of Ezilya:
“She’s a very genuine, brave filly, and her dam [Eziyra] was a very good racemare I trained. She was a good Group filly who went to the Breeders’ Cup and Hong Kong, but this filly probably has a bit more speed and a bit more class.”
When asked about other season targets, the successful handler immediately mentioned the Irish Oaks at The Curragh on 20 July 2024 as his filly’s next race:
“We’ll see how she comes out of the race. She’s not a big filly, and classics always take something out of a horse, so we’ll review it. She is in the Irish Oaks, but we’ll decide whether we give her time off for an autumn campaign which may involve the Arc [Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp in October].”
It was just a second Group 1 win in Britain for County Limerick, Ireland-born rider Chris Hayes, who won the 2023 Coronation Stakes with Tahiyra. The 36-year-old jockey explained his first British classic victory:
“She was the first horse loaded into the stalls; jumped, relaxed, I didn’t want to go lighting her up going up the hill. I was trapped out further than ideal, but it was a fresh strip, and I was getting a lovely bit of cover off Hector [Crouch]. It was like a piece of work. I angled out sooner than I wanted to, but I could feel Tom coming down my inside and I wanted rhythm, which she had, and I wanted to keep that rhythm.
“She moved forward quicker than I thought she was going to. I never had a moment’s doubt, once I was approaching the furlong pole, I knew nothing was going to be able to come as quickly as she was going to finish. It took me right to the end to pull her up – it’s probably because I was celebrating as well, but I had a good bit of petrol left. It was brilliant.
Ezeliya is first stakes-winner for former Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks third placer Eziyra. She is the 59th Group 1 winner for her sire, Dubawi, and is his first classic winner at Epsom. Ezeliya is also the 7th Group 1 winner for Teofilo as a broodmare sire.
For the winning owner-breeder HH The Aga Khan it was a first victory in the race, though his Aliysa was disqualified when first to cross the winning line in 1989. His grandfather owned two winners of the Epsom Oaks in Udaipur (1932) and Masaka (1948).
