Eva's Request: tough
filly in tip-top form

EVA'S REQUEST 4 f Soviet Star - Ingabelle(Taufan)

MICK Channon enjoyed a notable success at home ten days ago, when Music Show scored a surprise victory in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket, but it is his team's away form which has attracted most notice over the last couple of months.

In September there were triumphs in two of Turkey's most valuable international events, through Halicarnassus and Eva's Request, October began with another heroic-but-unavailing effort by Youmzain in the Arc, and a few hours after Music Show's win on the Rowley Mile, Lahaleeb collected top honours in the E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine.

On Sunday Eva's Request was at it again, netting for the fourth time in a season which began as long ago as February 3, notching her first win at Group 1 level in the Premio Lydia Tesio at the Capannelle. And now her demanding coach is planning a longer excursion for her, with a November target in Japan under consideration.

 

This is a tough filly, and no mistake, now a winner seven times from a total of 25 starts, having been ridden by ten different jockeys. It is worth noting that she recorded her best RPR at two in her seventh and final race of that campaign, when taking the Park Stakes on the Curragh, and her best at three when successful under 9st 6lb in a Listed handicap at Ascot, her eighth and last start of 2008.

Sunday's race in Rome was hertenth of this season. She was below par in her first two efforts at Nad al Sheba, came back to finish well behind in the Lincoln, but she has performed consistently well since. A Listed win over 1m at Goodwood in May was followed by her first English Pattern score in the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom, and it was no disgrace to finish four lengths behind Spacious when she tried Group 2 company for the first time in the Windsor Forest Stakes at Ascot.

Eva's Request was asked tough questions in her next two races, with Goldikova among her rivals in both the Falmouth Stakes and Prix Rothschild. If she hinted that she might not quite be up to Group 1 class at Newmarket, she improved at Deauville to finish under six lengths behind the winner, so her trainer felt justified in setting her ambitious autumn targets.

The policy has yielded rich pickings. Her ready victory over Damaniyat Girl in the Istanbul Trophy at Veliefendi produced a haul of over £173,000, and on Sunday, in her first race over 1m2f, her bravery earned her a second six-figure sum.

This year's Premio Lydia Tesio was no soft Italian Group 1, and she needed all her battling qualities to prevail in a finish of two heads and a neck against Night Magic (winner of the German Oaks, the Preis der Diana), Les Fazzani and Nashmiah. The highly-regarded Godolphin pair of Lady Marian and Flying Cloud finished fifth and sixth, with the Irish-trained favourite Chinese White, way down the field.

Eva's Request is clearly a filly who thrives on competition and who is effective between 1m and 1m2f. She is better now than at any time in her career, and it is not long odds against herimproving again. Fast ground appeared not to suit her in last year's Irish 1,000 Guineas, her only venture under such conditions, and Japanese courses tend to be firm towards the end of the year, but if she gets suitable going there, she will surely givethe locals a run for their money.

Eva's Request comes from the 16th crop of her sire, Soviet Star, who was both a top-class miler and an accomplished sprinter. At three he notched Group 1 victories in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, the Sussex Stakes and the Prix de la Foret, and he came back at four to add further top-level triumphs in the July Cup and the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. Eight wins, four second places and two fourths from 14 starts added up to a record of rare quality and consistency, so it was not surprising that he could command a fee of £30,000 when he retired to stud in 1989.

In his six seasons at Dalham Hall he never had a book of more than 50 mares, but he got Group 1 winners in Soviet Line, Ashkalani, Starborough and Limpid, and had Freedom Cry, runner-up in Lammtarra's Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately, most of those achievements came after his departure for Japan, where he wasted five years, while he might have been cashing in on his creditable record at home.

Soviet Star got nothing above Listed calibre in Japan, and returned to Europe by way of New Zealand, where from a single crop conceived there he got two Group 1 winners, the more notable of the pair being Starcraft, who later established his class in these parts with wins in the Prix du Moulin and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

In the second European phase of his stud career, based at Ballylinch, Soviet Star has been most conspicuously represented by the much-travelled Pressing, who has proved as good as ever as a six-year-old this term, with Group 2 wins in Italy and Turkey, along with a Group 1 - the Bayerisches Zuchtrennen - in Germany.

We live in an age when the unproven sire tends to be granted excessive opportunities and a mare is reckoned to be past her best when she reaches teenage. But Eva's Request is the product of parents who were both 20 when she was conceived, providing a salutary reminder that old-timers who succeeded in their youth can still deliver high-quality products in later life.

Ingabelle, the dam of Eva's Request, died last year at the age of 24, but, like Soviet Star, she made a mark early in her stud career with the production of two Pattern winners before she was ten. Her Bluebird filly Wild Bluebell won the Group 3 Concorde Stakes at Tipperary in 1995, just three weeks after Priory Belle, her daughter by Priolo, had captured the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes on the Curragh. Each became the dam of a useful performer, Priory Belle's daughter Kiltubber (by Sadler's Wells) collecting a Listed win in Italy, while Wild Bluebell's son Il Pirata (by Indian Ridge) earned a Group 2 place in Ireland.

Eva's Request is the eighth individual winner from 11 runners out of Ingabelle, who also produced a son of some distinction in spite of his dismal racing record of two unplaced runs. He is Academy Award, a son of Danehill whose daughter Theatrical Award won one of Norway'smost important events, the Group 3 Marit Sveaas Minnelop, at Ovrevoll in August.

Unfashionably bred, out of a mare who showed her best form over hurdles, Ingabelle far exceeded expectations by becoming a Group 3 winner herself and dam of two Group 1 winners.

Bred by Ballylinch Stud in Ireland. Euros 150,000 Goffs October yearling.
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PEDIGREE ASSESSMENT

SIRE: SOVIET STAR

Bred by Kinderhill & Partners. $310,000 Keeneland November foal. Won 8 (6f-1m) of 14 starts, viz. 1 (1500m Saint-Cloud maiden) out of 1 at 2 years, 4 (Prix de Fontainebleau-Gr3, Poule d'Essai des Poulains-Gr1, Sussex Stakes-Gr1, Prix de la Foret-Gr1) out of 7 at 3 years, 3 (Sandown Mile-Gr2, July Cup-Gr1, Prix du Moulin de Longchamp-Gr1) out of 6 at 4 years. Also 2nd in Prix Jean Prat, St James's Palace Stakes & Prix du Moulin de Longchamp at 3, and in Queen Anne Stakes at 4. RPR 127 at 4. Earned £626,840.

Medium-sized (16.0 hands), lengthy, quite good-looking. Top-class performer from 6-8 furlongs, barely stayed 9. Highly-strung, inclined to be impetuous, but raced gamely and consistently. Acted on top of the ground, but supposedly best suited by an easy surface.

One of the best sons of a top-class runner and sire, and typical of the tribe. Half-brother to The Very One (f by One for All; 22 wins, inc. 8 Graded Stakes on grass). Dam Listed-placed, from respectable family.

Stands at Ballylinch Stud, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, at a fee of Euros 8,000. Sire of 13 European-conceived crops of racing age, inc. notable winners Bon Point (Gr2), Soviet Line (Lockinge Stakes-Gr1, twice), Freedom Cry (Gr2),Volochine (Gr2), Wessam Prince (Gr3), Advancing Star (Gr3), Ashkalani (Poule d'Essai des Poulains-Gr1, Prix du Moulin de Longchamp-Gr1), Sensation (Gr2), Clerio (Gr3), Starborough (Prix Jean Prat-Gr1, St James's Palace Stakes-Gr1), Limpid (Grand Prix de Paris-Gr1), Democratic Deficit (Gr2), Boris de Deauville (Gr2), Pressing (Premio Roma-Gr1, Bayersiches Zuchtrennen-Gr1), Rosinka (Gr3), Buccellati (Gr3), Eva's Request (Premio Lydia Tesio-Gr1). Also sire, from 1 NZ-conceived crop, of Russian Pearl (Bayer Classic-Gr1), Starcraft (Chipping Norton S.-Gr1, Australian Derby-Gr1, Mudgway S.-Gr1, Prix du Moulin de Longchamp-Gr1, Queen Elizabeth II S.-Gr1) and Stardane (Gr3).

DAM: INGABELLE

Bred by Tom Lacy in Ireland. Won 3 (5-6f) of 22 races, viz. 1 (Listed) out of 5 at 2 years, 1 out of 10 at 3 years, 1 (Phoenix Sprint S.-Gr3) out of 7 at 4 years. Timeform 95 at 2, 108 at 4. Earned £39,456.

Smart performer, best at 6f with some give in the ground. Retired after Group 3 win, already in foal.

Not fashionably bred. By a smart non-Pattern winner who got one Gr1 winner in Tagula and not much else of real class. Half-sister to 4 other winners. Dam won 4 times on the Flat up to 1m5f, and 4 times over hurdles, half-sister to 9 other winners, inc. 2 in Listed company abroad.

To stud at 4 years and dam of: Ferrycarrig Hotel (1989 g by Burslem; winner), Bellissi (1990 f by Bluebird; winner), Wild Bluebell (1992 f by Bluebird; Gr3 winner), Priory Belle (1993 f by Priolo; Gr1 winner), Hihakai Seiun (1994 c by Night Shift; placed), unnamed (1995 c by Fairy King;unraced), Minkash (1997 g by Caerleon; winner), Sadinga (1999 f by Sadler's Wells; winner), Academy Award (2000 c by Danehill; unplaced), Soviet Belle (2001 f by Soviet Star; winner), Danielli (2002 f by Danehill; placed), Eva's Request (2005 f by SovietStar; Gr1 winner), Bachelor Bell (2006 c by Bachelor Duke; unraced to date). Barren to Silhouette Dancer in 1991, slipped to Bluebird in 1996, had dead foal by Sadler's Wells in 1998, barren to Danehill in 2003, to Rock of Gibraltar in 2004, and to Bachelor Duke in 2007. No return to Traditionally and died in 2008.

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CONCLUSIONS

Tough, courageous filly now in the form of her life.