Experienced Irish handler Dermot Weld has explained he is in no rush to return his stable stars Tarnawa and Search For A Song with both his fillies set to be primed for a campaign that sees them come good towards the end of the season.
The five year old Tarnawa had an unbelievable season last term racing four times and going on to win all of her events with ease.
She started her campaign off at Cork in a Group Three event over 1m4f for fillies and she managed to see off Group Two winner Cayenne Pepper comfortably.
Off the back of that prep run she headed straight over to France for the Group One Prix Vermeille, where she took on horses like Dame Malliott and Raabihah and on good ground she blitzed the field by three lengths.
The five year old showed her versatility in terms of ground next time out when landing a hat-trick in the 1m2f Group One Prix de l'Opera on heavy ground, beating Alpine Star who had some serious form.
Having had an unbelievable season already, Weld sent his star mare to America for the Breeders Cup Turf at Keeneland and on firm ground she needed every bit of the 1m4f to land the event.
That was her best performance to date, coming all the way round the field to see off the likes of multiple Group One winners Magical, Lord North and Mogul.
What a run from TARNAWA!
— The Winners Enclosure (@TWEnclosure) November 7, 2020
🇮🇪 Colin Keane manages to come off to a slow pace to land the $4m @BreedersCup Turf@AtTheRaces pic.twitter.com/7UmgbG7kp0
Kept in training for another season she looks to be aimed at the Arc in October, with another later campaign set to be in the cards and that could also be the case for stablemate Search For a Song who will be kept over the staying trips this term.
(Credit ATR) “I’m in no hurry with the fillies and there will be lovely warm days later on for Tarnawa. Search For A Song has also wintered well and is in super form,” said Weld.
“Nowadays, with so much big racing in the second part of the year, I tend to hit our peak in September, October, November.
“I’ve no plans at present where they will start off as it’s a long year and I’m in no hurry with them.”
Weld has been at the top of the Irish flat racing scene for a long time now and he is extremely happy with his team once again, heading into this term.
He added: “We have a quality team of horses this year, much less in numbers by design, but hopefully more quality than quantity.
“We are a couple of weeks behind some of the stables in fitness, but it’s a long year and we tend to get better as the year goes on.”