Tahiyra (8-13 favourite) proved too good for her rivals again to win the Coronation Stakes on day four of Royal Ascot 2023.
Dermot Weld’s Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine proved her pre-eminence in the Fillies mile division with victory in the Group One feature on the fourth day of the Royal meeting at the Berkshire track. Under Chris Hayes, the Aga Khan-owned daughter of Siyouni, like in Ireland, was held up in the rear off a muddling pace set mostly by Aidan O’Brien’s Meditate. Tahiyra was still nearer last than first on the turn for home in the mile contest. But she came down the outside as Meditate faded on the inside and 25-1 outsider Remarquee hit the front. But Tahiyra was travelling well and although she came across one of her rivals, eventual third Sounds Of Heaven, she hit the front before going on to score by a length from Remarquee.
For legendary Irish trainer Weld it was an 18th Royal Ascot winner 50 years almost to the day from his first with Klairvimy in the King Edward VII Stakes in 1973. Weld, who also won the Coronation Stakes with Sutton Place back in 1978, said: "I thought she put in an excellent performance, I think she was a worthy winner. With a very small field I always knew it was going to be a tactical race and she has so much pace. She's a very talented filly. She was very brave and she got a lovely ride from Chris the way the race turned out, he rode her hands and heels and she was a very deserving winner.
Having run in three Group Ones already this season – winning two and finishing second to the absent Mawj in the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket – she will now have a break before coming back in the autumn for a crack at more big-race glory, possibly even stepping up from the mile trip. Weld added: "The plan was always to give her a nice holiday, a nice break. She's had a very busy spring and early summer and she needs a nice break now and we'll look at a programme for her in the autumn (stepping up in trip). It will be considered, it is a possibility. She is learning more about racing and getting more professional. I thought she won fair and square.
"Her sister (Tarnawa) was unbelievably tough and stayed really well, won the Breeders' Cup Turf and won those two very good Group Ones in France for me and was just beat a neck in the Arc when the ground was too dead for her on the day. A brilliant racemare, her sister and this one is equally as good - but they are different. This one has more pace. I enjoy so much training these fillies. I know the families and do my best training them.
"I was a bit concerned in the early part of the race, but he did the right thing and reverted to Plan B, which came into action, just take your time – it is a long straight at Ascot. She has brilliant speed and he should hold on to her – and that's what he did. She is a lovely tempered filly, a lovely animal to deal with. She has her moments, like all fillies - she is a very talented filly."
Jockey Hayes, landing a first ever winner at the Royal Ascot, said: "She loaded late (into the stalls) and she got a little agitated for a second and lost her hind-end on me. I wanted to be closer, but she was running keen because she half frightened herself. I had to ride her nice and cool and get her to relax; it was a slow pace and she did well considering she was running at a quickening pace. She had a little look at the stands for half a stride... I can't wait to ride this filly in a properly run mile and really see what she's made of.
"I spoke to the boss (Dermot Weld, trainer) earlier on and all he said to me was 'do what you do'. So I took it nice and easy. Things like that happen, she slipped coming out the gates and I had to go to Plan B and forfeit my position early to Rob (Hornby on runner-up Remarquee) who was keen as well. I knew this filly could over-race and I could be there too soon – it wasn't going to be straightforward and I just had to ride her like she was the best and the fastest in the field. Like I said, I can't wait to ride her in a truly run race. This means a lot, because a lot of people the way they were talking I was the only chink in her armour. I wasn't a chink today anyway."
On what it means to have a horse like her in his career, he added: “It’s unbelievable. Every time I ride for Mr Weld, I just seem to land on my feet, because every year I’ve ridden for him, I had a Group One winner out of it – I’ve had two this year and two last year. To get a filly like her at any stage in your career is brilliant, but to think we are only half-way through the season and the boss’s horses always get better later on… I don’t know what her immediate plans will be, but she’s just a pleasure to have anything to do with. I just have to make sure that I don’t get suspended or injured, because horses like her don’t come around too often and I’ll appreciate her now.”
Trainer of runner-up Remarquee, Ralph Beckett, said: "By the time she did get rolling the gap was closing. You don't see many of ours with a sheepskin nose band, and she wears it because she is still green. She has not had that much racing. She has run her legs off today. It is a length (she got lost), she has run on again and made up a length in the last half furlong, at least! I am not disappointed with her in the slightest, the Guineas was a non-event she has only had two starts and she is a slow learner! She will go for the Falmouth, I think that will suit."
