Oh My What a Victory

[Wandering Eyes]

The debut victory of Oh My Oh My (Ire) (Slade Power {Ire}) at Lyon in France on Thursday was a ringing endorsement of Con Marnane’s decision to retain the colt when he went unsold at 38,000gns at the Craven Breeze Up Sale at Tattersalls in April. The Matthieu Palussiere-trained juvenile carried Marnane’s wife Theresa’s silks to victory and he was also another first crop winner for Darley stallion Slade Power (Ire). Fittingly it is that former top-class sprinter’s trainer Eddie Lynam who is the co-breeder of Oh My Oh My and the trainer was delighted with the result given the juvenile is the first produce out of the mare Sylvan Mist (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), also trained by Lynam to win twice during her racing career.

“It’s a great interest to have following the progress of Slade Power’s progeny and we hope he continues to do well,” Lynam said on Friday. “Sylvan Mist is a mare I raced myself and who I own in partnership with Joe Hernon. We sold Oh My Oh My as a yearling [made €47,000 at Tattersalls Ireland]. He was a nice colt and Con [Marnane] has always been very happy with him since he’s had him. He wasn’t getting enough for him at the breeze ups, as was the case with a few horses this year, so Con said he’d bring him to France and win with him there and he did. He thinks quite highly of him so fingers crossed he will keep progressing.”

Lynam continued, “It’s great for the mare too, she was quite talented on the track, I remember both Pat Smullen and Fergal Lynch winning on her. She’s in foal to Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) but had a bit of bad luck, her yearling colt by Acclamation got killed in a paddock accident a while ago so that was unfortunate. She was barren for this year, so all we have is the foal she is carrying but the winner in France certainly cheered us up.”

It was no surprise to learn that Lynam has a number of juveniles by Slade Power in training at the moment but he hasn’t taken the wraps off any as of yet. “I don’t have as many as I would have liked, as the nice ones were too hard for me to buy at the sales. I have quite a nice filly out of Glamorous Spirit (Ire), she was a stakes winning Invincible Spirit (Ire) mare and there is also a nice colt out of Dangle (Ire) who I trained for Stephanie Von Schilcher. We also have a nice Slade Power filly out of Soliza (Ire), she was a May foal but we like her.”

There is often an assumption that being a top class sprinter goes hand in hand with precocity, but that is not always the case and despite Slade Power winning as a 2-year-old he clearly improved with age, showing his best form at five years of age.

“Slade Power was a very fast horse and did win at two, but any of the ones I have are not particularly early types,” he said. “I expect from June onwards they will start kicking on and he’ll start getting more winners.”

Lynam’s continued support of the stallion is also evident by the fact that between the Lynam and the Power families they have eight mares in foal to him this year. The stallion’s dam Girl Power (Ire) (Key Of Luck) is still only 14-years-old and the trainer is also looking forward to seeing more of her progeny in the future.

“The mare was covered this year by Tamayuz (GB) and had a very nice colt foal by Dark Angel (Ire),” said Lynam. “She also produced a lovely yearling colt by Dark Angel last year so there is lots to look forward to.”

Eddie Lynam took Royal Ascot by storm four years ago when he enjoyed three winners from as many runners courtesy of Slade Power, Sole Power (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) and Anthem Alexander (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). However it is unlikely the trainer will be so strongly represented at the Royal Meeting in a little over a fortnight’s time.

“We’ve a good strike rate there and the reason for that is we don’t delude ourselves by bringing horses that have little chance of winning. It looks unlikely we’ll have anything more than a social runner this year, but you never know.”

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[Mooncoin]

Interesting  article Chief,my brother and I visited Con and David Marnane''s property in Ireland during April so it is good to see him have a bit of success on the track as Con is a big seller at the RTR sales.They have a great setup on their property in Bansha.

Cheers