Sariska winning the Irish Oaks in 2009© Photo Healy Racing
Throughout racing’s long and storied history, few Classics can have been won with such ease as Sariska’s Irish Oaks in 2009.
In following up her Epsom triumph over Midday – herself a subsequent multiple Group One winner – Michael Bell’s Sariska looked to have the world at her feet.
Ridden by Jamie Spencer, she had the perfect partner as his patient style saw Lady Bamford’s homebred come swinging into the Curragh’s home straight still on the bridle.
When Spencer allowed his mount an inch of rein, Sariska quickly made up ground on the pacemaker Roses For The Lady, ridden by Spencer’s good friend Fran Berry, with the winning jockey taking a long look across at his hard-at-work pal before it was time for goodbye.
Without much further effort from Spencer, Sariska crossed the line as a three-length winner, hardly knowing she had been in a race.
“She had worked very well the one time we worked her after Epsom and we went there brimming with confidence as she’d done everything we’d asked of her since Epsom,” said Bell.
“Obviously Jamie was the perfect fit for her. The one bit of work she did after Epsom showed us that she was absolutely on her game and with the ground in her favour, I’d have been absolutely devastated if she’d got beaten.
“Jamie rode her to perfection, but the way she won I probably could have ridden her myself!”
While Sariska did have winning form on quick ground, that day at the Curragh it was riding heavy and it was by far her best performance.
Bell went on: “She was a very big, heavy filly and although she was effective on faster ground, she clearly excelled on soft. Her mother was effective on it, the whole family were, and being by Pivotal all signs were she was better with some juice.”
In the immediate aftermath Sariska looked a major player in the rest of the season’s top races. However, she met with defeat in her next outing against Dar Re Mi in the Yorkshire Oaks when it later emerged she was in season.
Despite beating Midday once again on her return the following season in the Middleton Stakes, she was then second to Fame And Glory in the Coronation Cup in what was to be her last race as her famous character then came out in spades.
She refused to leave the stalls for both the Yorkshire Oaks and Prix Vermeille and was swiftly retired.
“She did come back and win as a four-year-old, so you couldn’t necessarily say running that day at York when it transpired that she was in season left a mark,” said Bell.
“Every horse is slightly different, there’s only so many times you can go to the well with horses and later on in her career she waved the white flag and said ‘I’ve done enough’.
“She’d never shown a hint that she might refuse before the first day she did so at York. She’d always had character, but that was very unexpected.
“The die was cast once she’d done it a second time. We took her for a barrier trial at Lingfield and simulated race conditions as best we could and she pinged the gates. She was just clever.
“That day in France, when Jamie approached the stalls he said he knew she was going to do it, despite the day at Lingfield. She was just clever.
“On pure ability she is right up there with the best I’ve trained. We’ve been lucky to have some very good fillies over the years but I would say her and Red Evie were the best by some way.”
