Kendargent’s Morando Powers To Ormonde Success

[Wandering Eyes]

King Power Racing, Andrew Balding and Silvestre de Sousa have taken 2019 by storm and their combined form was symbolised by a romp rarely seen at Chester as Morando (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) outclassed his rivals in Thursday’s G3 Boodles Diamond Ormonde S. Always travelling with enthusiasm off the true gallop in third, the 3-1 second favourite moved effortlessly to the lead with three furlongs remaining as last year’s G1 St Leger hero Kew Gardens (Ire) (Galileo Ire}) got going from rear. What looked briefly as if it could be a tussle quickly turned into a drubbing as the late Vichai Srivaddhanapradha’s Leicester City FC-influenced blue-and-white silks floated away up the straight. At the line, the grey who was going beyond 10 furlongs for just the second time in his career and was going as far as this extended 13-furlong trip for the first time, had eight lengths to spare over Ballydoyle’s 4-5 favourite. “He loves the [soft] ground, which is a big help,” Balding said. “He does nothing at home. Ormonde was trained at Kingsclere and Morando is stabled in the Ormonde yard, so it’s nice.”
Signing off a spell with Roger Varian with a second placing in the 9 1/2-furlong G3 Prix Andre Baboin at Bordeaux le Bouscat in October 2017, Morando who had previously been kept at seven furlongs or a mile was sent up again in distance by Balding and filled third spot in the G3 Gordon Richards S. over a mile and a quarter at Sandown last April. Unplaced in two starts on fast summer ground, he was back on soft when second in the Listed Doonside Cup also over that trip at Ayr in September before a tilt at a mile and a half saw him improve to dead-heat with Young Rascal (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) in Newbury’s G3 St Simon S. in October.
Balding was pondering a future program for Morando, who has now won a qualifying race for the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million. “We’ll have to hunt around, as the ground is very important to him,” he added. “We didn’t particularly expect to beat the favourite, but he just relished the conditions and runs well fresh. He was new to me last year and we ran him on ground too fast for him twice and then we got the ground right. He found his feet and he stays well, which is the one thing we discovered and that has opened up some options. The [G2] Hardwicke is probably the obvious target, but we will be lucky to get the ground at Ascot, so we will talk to the owners and see what they want to do. There will be some options on the continent, maybe the [G2] Grand Prix de Deauville or something like that.”
Kew Gardens was dismounted after the line by Moore, but Aidan O’Brien was not concerned. “We were very happy with his run and he was just ready to start. Soft ground is not his thing,” he said. “They went a good gallop so it was a proper-run race and the winner is a good horse. It was just a case of getting a run into him to get him started, then if he is well we will think very hard about that [the May 31 G1 Coronation Cup at Epsom]. You would be very happy with the run. He is a good-ground horse and it has been a long time since he ran. He relaxed lovely and handled the track lovely.”
Intriguingly, his pedigree has led connections astray with his dam Moranda (Fr) (Indian Rocket {GB}) a sprinting full-sister to the listed-winning speedball Matwan (Fr) who in turn produced the G3 Prix Djebel third Batwan (Fr) to a mating with Morando’s sire Kendargent. Moranda’s half-brother Myasun (Fr) (Panis) was also fast, winning the G3 Prix de Seine-et-Oise and G3 Prix de Meautry over six furlongs, while the family also features the G3 Prix Miesque scorer Lacarolina (Fr) (Charge d’Affaires {GB}) and the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Silvermine (Fr) (Bellypha {Fr}). Her son was the G1 Prix Jean Prat hero Sillery (Blushing Groom {Fr}), so the sprinting-miling influence is very strong. Moranda also has a 2-year-old filly by Wootton Bassett (GB) named Speak of the Devil (Fr).

Thursday, Chester, Britain
BOODLES DIAMOND ORMONDE S.-G3, £100,000, Chester, 5-9, 4yo/up, 13f 107yT, 3:00.66, sf.
1–MORANDO (FR), 129, g, 6, by Kendargent (Fr)
1st Dam: Moranda (Fr), by Indian Rocket (GB)
2nd Dam: Spain, by Bering (GB)
3rd Dam: Sevilliana (GB), by General Holme
(€230,000 Ylg ’14 ARAUG; 290,000gns 4yo ’17 TATAHI). O-King Power Racing Co Ltd; B-Guy Pariente Holding (FR); T-Andrew Balding; J-Silvestre de Sousa. £56,710. Lifetime Record: GSP-Fr, 15-6-2-2, $234,710. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Kew Gardens (Ire), 133, c, 4, Galileo (Ire)–Chelsea Rose (Ire), by Desert King (Ire). O-Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Barronstown Stud (IRE); T-Aidan O’Brien. £21,500.
3–Magic Circle (Ire), 126, g, 7, Makfi (GB)–Minkova (Ire), by Sadler’s Wells. (70,000gns 5yo ’17 TATAHI). O-Dr Marwan Koukash; B-Mr & Mrs David Aykroyd (IRE); T-Ian Williams. £10,760.
Margins: 8, HF, 11. Odds: 3.00, 0.80, 6.00.
Also Ran: Dalgarno (Fr), Cypress Creek (Ire), Warnaq (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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