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So you know Europe totally dominated the turf at Keeneland with all four winners on Breeders’ Cup Saturday, headed by Tarnawa in the Turf and a Ballydoyle 1-2-3 in the Mile.
What's going on?
Turf: Tarnawa fills gap on Weld's CV
Irish great Dermot Weld has rightly earned legendary status for his pioneering international efforts which have seen him have major winners on four continents.
Weld, 72, remains the only European-based trainer ever to win a Triple Crown race thanks to Go And Go's Belmont Stakes in 1990. As has long since gone down in racing folklore, he was also the first European to win the Melbourne Cup (with Vintage Crop in 1993 and again with Media Puzzle in 2002), and the first European to win at the Hong Kong International races (Additional Risk in 1991).
However, despite 16 previous runners, he had never won a Breeders' Cup race until the Aga Khan's Tarnawa completed a G1 hat-trick by sweeping down the Keeneland straight to thwart her admirable compatriot Magical by a length.
'It doesn't get any bigger than this'With Dermot Weld staying in Ireland, the veteran trainer's son Mark was on hand in Kentucky to welcome the winner. "We're absolutely over the moon and it doesn't get any bigger than this," he said.
"I'm thrilled for His Highness the Aga Khan and his team and the people back home in Ireland. These overseas prestige races in the autumn are what we train them for and I'm sad my dad is not here, but the Covid situation put paid to that.
"My father has been a long-standing supporter of American racing ever since Go And Go won the Belmont back in 1990. He worked in the United States as a boy and it's very special to him."
