Tuesday 9 May 2023
Tahiyra was close to becoming the seventh individual Classic winner by SIYOUNI on Sunday, when finishing half a length behind Mawj in the Gr.1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket. The pair of them had drawn almost eight lengths clear of the rest of the field.
Trainer Dermot Weld told the press afterwards: “She ran a big race, probably the ground was a shade slow for her. We know she has a lot of pace, a lot of speed. The ground just takes the real speed off her. She's run, she's quickened, and Chris Hayes [jockey] has probably told you that there is another gear there we didn't just quite get today.
“Because of the weather and things we had, I had to be careful of my training of her. I would have liked to have got a prep race before today. The ideal plan was to give her a run in Classic trial a couple of weeks ago. The ground has been very heavy and I didn't want to pull the guts out of her. So we came into the race slightly undercooked. We had her 95% and we didn't have her 100% and we have got beaten half a length. We'll see how she comes out of the race and I have another Aga Khan filly called Tarawa that ran a very nice prep for the Irish Guineas at Leopardstown today. She is a very sweet filly and she was always on my mind for that, but let's see.”
Though it was not to be for SIYOUNI’s Tahiyra, fellow Aga Khan Studs stallions SEA THE STARS and ZARAK both posted Stakes winners over the weekend. The former’s Ottoman Fleet successfully stepped up in grade to take the Gr.2 Fort Marcy Stakes at Belmont Park and the latter’s progressive Haya Zark took his third Stakes victory in the Gr.3 Prix d’Hedouville at ParisLongchamp.
ZARAK also scored a new Stakes performer when his second-crop daughter Iznik finished a close second in the Listed Prix de la Seine, while also on that ParisLongchamp card Maydana became a new winner for her sire DARIYAN.
