Horses trained by Charlie Appleby grabbed the headlines during Canadian International weekend at Woodbine in September, when Albahr capped off a memorable triple winning Godolphin raid by capturing the G1 Summer Stakes and punched his ticket to the Breeders' Cup. He was a solid winner but I wonder if his runner-up, Grafton Street, will turn out to be a better performer in due course.
Closely related to two top-level juvenile winners, one of them a Breeders’ Cup champion, this colt had the odds stacked against him at Woodbine, where he was impressive in defeat.
Making only his second start, after a third place finish over 5 furlongs on a sloppy dirt track at Belmont Park in May, Grafton Street was lacking experience as he went for the one-mile Summer Stakes, contested over a turf course labelled as good.
The well bred son of War Front caught the eye in the paddock. He is a scopey and attractive colt from an excellent family. The Coolmore-owned colt was one of four Summer Stakes contenders trained by Mark Casse, and was presumably put in the race in an attempt at securing a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar.
That plan did not quite work out, as Albahr, an English shipper with so much more experience, earned the ticket to California by winning with a little over two lengths to spare (see video below). But Grafton Street may turn the form around if they meet again. Whether we’ll see him at the Breeders’ Cup or not, he is a runner to keep an eye on.
Going off at 9/1, he broke a bit slowly, not quite as slowly as Albahr, but the fact that the odds-on favorite missed the break meant that many observers might have overlooked how Grafton Street handled the early stages of the race.
He took some time to find his feet, then raced freely while held up by Rafael Hernandez. Albahr soon passed him, relegating Grafton Street to second last as the 9-runner field approached the bend. By the home turn, he had moved up to sixth, but he found himself behind a trio of horses and had to switch lanes to get a clear run.
In the meantime, the odds-on favorite had flown, more or less wrapping it up with a strong kick halfway down the stretch. Albahr was not going to be caught, although Grafton Street closed gamely to be a clear second, beating Degree Of Risk by 1½ lengths for the place. Degree Of Risk hung and intimidated Grafton Street, not helping his cause – but the Casse trainee went by that rival in a matter of strides anyway, and, with everything that happened in this race, Grafton Street must have learned a lot. He galloped out strongly after passing the winning post.
First Empire, a nice sprinter who had beaten Degree Of Risk when they ran 1-2 in a listed race in August, finished fourth in the Summer Stakes. Interestingly, Steve Asmussen’s Heaven Street, beaten 9 lengths into third in that listed race, went on to a smooth allowance win at Kentucky Downs next time out. Canadian juvenile form is not easy to assess from afar, but these seem to be pretty smart performers.
Meanwhile, Albahr’s previous four runs – all in England – represented solid form. He had won three of them, including a listed event over a mile at Salisbury.
Grafton Street’s run in the Summer Stakes was promising in so many ways. Given that his racecourse debut came in a race that was rained off the turf, and took place the best part of four months before the Breeders’ Cup Win & You’re in qualifier in Toronto, one could almost treat him as a first-time starter. Casse had him entered for a maiden allowance heat at Woodbine three weeks before the Summer, but scratched him when rain forced that race across from lawn to the Tapeta.
This colt was bred to run on turf, and that's undoubtedly the surface we will see him on in the future. His dam, the Galileo daughter Lahinch Classics, was trained by David Wachman in Ireland. She won once from five starts, taking a 10½-furlong maiden at Dundalk at 3 before delivering good runner-up efforts behind Volume in a listed ten-furlong race at Newbury and to Mango Diva in the G2 Kilboy Estate Stakes over nine furlongs at the Curragh. Lahinch Classics is out of Lahinch (Danehill Dancer), a successful broodmare and the dam of G3 Ballyogan Stakes winner Liscanna, who in turn produced Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hit It A Bomb and G1 Cheveley Park Stakes scorer Brave Anna.
Like Grafton Street, Hit It A bomb and Brave Anna are both by War Front and, like him, they were bred by Mrs Evelyn Stockwell, as were Lahinch, Liscanna and Lahinch Classics. Lahinch is also the dam of The Bogberry, a G3 winner in Ireland, and Ennistyman, best known as Love’s runner-up in the last year’s Epsom Oaks.