Shabaya (nearest) with runner-up Inveterate© Photo Healy Racing
Colin Keane won for Tarnawa's owner the Aga Khan and trainer Dermot Weld with 65-rated Shabaya in Galway's Corrib Food Products Maiden today, five days before he rides their star mare at the Breeders Cup.
Shabaya (11/2), a daughter of Teofilo, was unplaced in three maiden runs this year but today battled to a half length win over 5/6 favourite Inveterate
Keane pushed his record-breaking seasonal winners tally to 139 with the win and later reported “by right she (Shabaya) probably wants to go a trip but she has been hard on herself in the past so Mr Weld decided to drop her back to seven furlongs today.
“It takes a lot of getting but it probably played into her strengths stamina-wise but she got through the ground although she'll probably be better on a nicer surface. It is nice to get the bracket.”
Keane will be reunited with Tarnawa in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Turf repeat-bid at Keeneland, as he takes the ride back from the Aga Khan's French-retained jockey Christophe Soumillon, second on her in Longchamp's recent Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
