Taghrooda wins the 2014 Epsom Oaks
Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum’s homebred Taghrooda, from Sea The Stars‘ first crop, won the Investec Epsom Oaks (In Memory of Henry Cecil) (Eng-I) on 6 June 2014.
Ridden by Paul Hanagan for trainer John Gosden, the filly dispatched longtime front-runner Volume in the straight and drew clear to victory, finishing three and three-quarter lengths clear of another Sheikh Hamdan runner Tarfasha, trained by Dermot Weld.
Volume finished third, just ahead of Inchila and Ihtimal. Marvellous, sent off favourite after her Irish 1,000 Guineas success, was sixth.
While still on horseback, Hanagan dedicated the victory to the trainer John Hills, who died on Sunday aged 53. Although not involved in the training of Taghrooda, Hills was among the trainers used by her owner, Sheikh Hamdan, and Hanagan described him as “a big part of the team”. Hills’s brother, Richard, who is an adviser to Sheikh Hamdan, having been his retained jockey for many years, was the first to greet Taghrooda after she slowed to a walk. He told the Channel 4 cameras that John had wished him luck for the Oaks only the previous week.
It was a key moment and first Classic success for former champion Hanagan, for whom the job with Sheikh Hamdan promised the chance of big-race success when he was appointed after Hills’s retirement two years ago. “It’s just nice to give something back,” he said. “I’m so pleased for Sheikh Hamdan and all the team.”
At 5-1 odds, Taghrooda won her third race from as many career starts and entered off a victory in the Tweenhills Pretty Polly Stakes on 4 May 2014 at Newmarket in her season bow. She won her debut in September at Newmarket.
The bay filly is out of the stakes-winning Sadler’s Wells mare Ezima.
This year’s edition of the English classic was run to honor legendary trainer Sir Henry Cecil, who won the Oaks eight times. He died of cancer in June 2013.
