Tahiyra 'right up there with the best I've trained' says Dermot Weld after Classic-winning filly is retired

Classic-winning filly Tahiyra has been retired, with her brave but ultimately vain pursuit of Big Rock in Saturday's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes the last act of a glittering racing career in which she won four Group 1s. 

Dermot Weld, responsible for 24 British and Irish Classic triumphs, has put Tahiyra "right up there" with the best he has trained and said the standout moment for him was her odds-on victory in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. 

Speaking to the Racing Post on Monday, Weld said: "Tahiyra has been retired. She's been a wonderful filly to train and she retires to the Aga Khan's broodmare band. 

"She's right up there with the best I've trained. I've been very fortunate to train some very, very good colts and fillies and I've never been one who likes comparing horses with other horses from different years, but she's right up there with them all."

He added: "She was champion two-year-old filly of Europe and was only beaten in two races – she was beaten a half-a-length into second in the 1,000 Guineas and finished third in the QEII. The standout moment for me was when she won the Coronation at Royal Ascot. The way she quickened up that day was very impressive. The race wasn't run to suit, but she still quickened up and won well. That was a very special day."

Unbeaten in a juvenile campaign which ended with a spine-tingling performance in the Moyglare Stakes, Tahiyra was narrowly beaten by Mawj in a thrilling 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket on her first start as a three-year-old. She went one better in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh that month and displayed her sparkling turn of foot to land the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. 

After a midsummer break she returned to win Leopardstown's Matron Stakes impressively at Leopardstown and was a 7-2 shot to seal a fifth Group 1 in Saturday's QEII which was billed as a battle of the sexes between herself and Paddington. 

Tahiyra holds off Just Beautiful and Rogue Millennium in the Matron StakesCredit: CAROLINE NORRIS

It didn't materialise that way, though, as Big Rock set a brisk tempo in the testing conditions and maintained the relentless gallop to score by six lengths for Aurelien Lemaitre and Christopher Head. Tahiyra was the only one able to break from the pack and go after the pacesetter, but she couldn't land a glove on him in the closing stages and was collared close home for second by Facteur Cheval. 

That was to be her final racecourse appearance with life as a broodmare up next.

As for what made Tahiyra so special, Weld said it was the way she moved through her races among many other things. 

He said: "It was a combination of factors that made her so good, the breeding, her temperament, her will to win, but if I was to pick one particular attribute it would be that she was poetry in motion. She was a beautiful moving filly, just poetry in motion."

Chris Hayes rode Tahiyra in all seven of her starts. She ended her career with five wins, four Group 1s, a rating of 118 and earnings of £1,241,470. 

Read more:

'The best day of my life' - redemption for Aurelien Lemaitre as French raider Big Rock blows away rivals 

'I'll be forever in his debt' - Jim Crowley and Owen Burrows pay tribute after brilliant King George winner Hukum is retired 

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