Asfoora beaten, as Arizona Blaze takes the Flying Five
Sergei Prokofiev (Scat Daddy), a resident at Whitsbury Manor Stud, sired his first elite-level winner when the Amo Racing-owned Arizona Blaze (3 c ex Liberisque by Equiano) proved too strong for his rivals in the Flying Five Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) at the Curragh on Sunday.
Henry Dwyer’s Asfoora (Flying Artie) couldn’t repeat her Nunthorpe Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) heroics, fading in the final stages to finish seventh.
Ridden by David Egan and trained by Adrian Murray, Arizona Blaze motored away to beat Nighteyes (Night Of Thunder) by a cosy length. Bucanero Fuerte (Wootton Bassett), who, like the winner, also sports the purple colours of Kia Joorabchian, finished a brave third.
A winner of the Marble Hill Stakes (Gr 3, 6f) as a juvenile, the three-year-old colt won a Group 3 in France in May, before finishing second behind Time For Sandals (Sands Of Mali) in the Commonwealth Cup (Gr 1, 6f) at Royal Ascot and bounced back to form in the Sapphire Stakes (Gr 2, 5f) in July.
He came into Sunday’s Group 1 off the back of a lacklustre 11th-placed finish in the Nunthorpe and Egan was happy to be on board the winner, having had to choose between him and Bucanero Fuerte.
Egan said: “I was chewing the ear off a lot of people, getting their opinions, but at the end of the day I had to go with my gut feeling and I was glad to be on Arizona.
“I always knew Bucanero would run a solid race and he took me into it a long way. For that horse to come back from what he’s been through, it’s a credit to the team.”
The delighted rider added: “If anyone deserves a Group 1, it’s Arizona. He was narrowly defeated as a juvenile and nearly won the Commonwealth Cup. I’m delighted for him today as the son of Sergei Prokofiev — he’s a Group 1 horse and they’ve been campaigning him for that.
“Another Group 1 for Kia and for myself is very gracious and humbling — onto the next one!”
Bought by Amanda Skiffington for 36,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in 2022, the colt then sold to Rodrigo Goncalves and Aguiar Bloodstock for £82,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale the following year.