Mare Of The Moment: Polished Gem

[Wandering Eyes]

Mare Of The Moment is a TDN feature that highlights the success of a broodmare and gives she and her owner recognition for those achievements. In association with the Irish National Stud, the mare will receive a personalised headcollar. This month, Polished Gem (Ire) (Danehill) is the recipient of Mare Of The Moment.

Irish Champions Weekend is always one to look forward to as the seasons change from summer to autumn, but his year’s renewal was the stuff dreams are made of. A highlight of the weekend was the showcase of the efforts of one man and those who supported him. It was the crescendo to many weeks of work by Pat Smullen and the industry to raise funds for a cause that works to eradicate a disease that has sadly touched too many lives. Not forgetting the protagonists to the plot, it was as if the horses knew to play their part, too. The Moyglare Stud colours in which Smullen has ridden to victory on so many occasions were carried by Search For A Song (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who raced keenly to begin with before taking the lead and finishing strongly in the G1 Irish St Leger, capping off a great day.

Although only lightly raced, the Dermot Weld-trained 3-year-old had shown her class on previous runs, including a gallant fourth place to Star Catcher (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Irish Oaks. Some may have thought that the entry in the Irish St Leger was a stiff task for her but few could have been in doubt when she lengthened away from the field and asserted herself as a true Group 1 winner. For her dam, Polished Gem, that victory was not the first time her progeny had graced the winner’s circle at the elite level. Her son, the Irish National Stud stallion Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), won the G1 Prince of Wales’s S. at Royal Ascot and Custom Cut (Ire) (Notnowcato {GB}) was a multiple group winner, as was her daughter Sapphire (Ire) (Medicean {GB}) who now resides at Moyglare Stud. Search For A Song is also not her mother’s sole stakes winner of this season, as full-brother Falcon Eight (Ire) landed the Listed Coral Marathon at Sandown in July.

Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner’s Moyglare Stud has long been esteemed as one of the great owner-breeder operations, as well as a great supporter for the Irish racing industry. The owner’s contributions to The Curragh redevelopment as well as to The Curragh training grounds refurbishment shows vision to look beyond her own gates. At 16, Polished Gem has played her hand in furthering the Moyglare bloodlines and her daughter made an emotive day even more so. Search For A Song will stay in training next year and there is every promise she will enhance her record still. With Free Eagle making a solid start at stud and her daughters to carry on the generation, Polished Gem is a mare whose name will likely grace the pedigree pages of many champions to come and that is what makes her September’s Mare Of The Moment.

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