Amma Grace provides poignant reminder of Stan Cosgrove as she makes Cork debut

Among the lasting legacy of the late Stan Cosgrove are the families he developed with Moyglare Stud and there are few better or more pertinent examples than a filly who appears for the first time at Cork on Sunday.

The widely-accomplished vet, who died on Thursday aged 91, had been with the Haefner family’s County Kildare operation since 1962 and oversaw its development into a global force.

Amma Grace, who starts off in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden over a mile, epitomises the type of quality horse associated with Moyglare.

She descends from Talking Picture, the champion US juvenile from 1973 who was bought by Walter Haefner from Maxwell H Gluck. Her daughter Trusted Partner - Amma Grace’s second dam - not only landed the 1988 Irish Guineas for Dermot Weld but produced Dress To Thrill, with whom the trainer conducted another successful Stateside Grade 1 raid.

Another of Trusted Partner’s daughters is Amma Grace’s dam Polished Gem, who has become one of Moyglare’s current elite broodmares.

Stan Cosgrove (centre) had served at Moyglare since 1962Credit: Caroline Norris

Her most notable previous offspring is the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes scorer Free Eagle, now serving at the Irish National Stud, while she has produced a stream of other high-end performers such as the reliable Custom Cut and Champions Day winner Sapphire.

The use of Galileo, Amma Grace’s sire, has already paid dividends this season with three-year-old filly Search For A Song graduating to Listed honours in the Galtres Stakes at York, where the four-year-old Falcon Eight was unable to confirm earlier promise when last behind Stradivarius in the Lonsdale Cup. Their Dark Angel sibling Valac, now seven, landed a Group 3 in Australia earlier in the year.

It would be no surprise were Weld to have her ready to make an early impact, even if the likes of Unknown Pleasures, Lemista and Capri’s sister Passion have already shown some promise.

Holy Roman Empress - illustriously bred by American Pharoah out of Damson - needs to show a little more but could easily be capable of such.

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