Aidan O'Brien-trained filly Snowfall demolishes Musidora rivals at York on Wednesday
Late Shadai Stallion Station-based sire Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) sired his 175th stakes winner on Wednesday as the Aidan O’Brien-trained Snowfall (3 f ex Best In The World by Galileo) proved far superior to her rivals in the Musidora Stakes (Gr 3, 1m2¼f) at York and now looks set for a crack at the Oaks (Gr 1, 1m4f) at Epsom next month.
The filly was taken straight to the front by Ryan Moore and looked to be travelling strongly in the early part of the race.
As the field entered the final two furlongs, rivals began to queue up behind Snowfall, with Teona (Sea The Stars) looking the most likely candidate to mount a challenge. However, she did not have enough to catch the filly, who picked up again for Moore inside the closing stages, eventually posting a comfortable three and three-quarter length victory over Noon Star (Galileo), while Teona finished another half a length away in third.
A winner of one of her seven starts as a juvenile, Snowfall finished her juvenile career with an eighth place finish in the Fillies’ Mile (Gr 1, 1m) at Newmarket on October 9 and after Wednesday’s race Coolmore's UK representative Kevin Buckley confirmed the filly would now head to the Oaks.
"I think that was a good performance. Aidan’s always thought an awful lot of the filly back in Ballydoyle and it’s nice to see her do that, like he thought she would do, stepping up to a mile and a quarter,” Buckley said.
"She’s definitely going to go [to the Oaks] and on that performance we’d have to be hopeful."
Snowfall should look to have no issues stepping up in trip for the Oaks, being out of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) mare Best In The World, who proved herself high-class over the same distance when winning the Give Thanks Stakes (Gr 3, 1m4f) in 2016.
Best In The World is herself out of dual Group 1 winner Red Evie (Intikhab), making her a sister to Group 3-winning pair Magical Dream and Divinely, while she is also a sister to multiple Group 1-winning champion Found, who like most of her family thrived over the middle distances. Found is also the dam of Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Battleground (War Front).
Red Evie herself is out of Group 3 scorer Malafemmena (Nordico) and she is a half-sister to dual Group 3 winner Export Prince (Habitat), with the pair both being out Listed winner Martinova (Martinmas).
Deep Impact’s 175 stakes winners are headed by 48 elite level scorers and he stood at the Shadai Stallion Station for his whole breeding career until his untimely death in 2019.
He is represented in Australia by his sire sons Tosen Stardom, who stands at Woodside Park Stud and Coolmore Stud-based Saxon Warrior, while his three-time Group 1-winning son Fierce Impact will stand his first season in 2021 at Leneva Park in Victoria for an introductory fee of $16,500 (inc GST).
Ryan Moore - poetry in motion at the moment
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 12, 2021
An eighth winner from his last rides for the jockey as he guides Snowfall to an impressive success in the Musidora Stakes, providing team @Ballydoyle with a first success in the contest at @yorkracecourse pic.twitter.com/FKIkPAw5u6
