Almost as predictable as the clocks going forward at this time of the year is Dermot Weld unwrapping a classic prospect, and at Leopardstown on Sunday he looked to uncover at least two.
May’s Irish 1,000 Guineas on his own Curragh doorstep was pinpointed by Weld as a potential target for both the Group Three Ballylinch Trial winner Swelter and her blue-blooded stable companion Tarima.
The latter is a sibling to the superstar pair of Tahiyra – whose four Group One victories included the Curragh classic two years ago – and Tarnawa, who scored three times at the top level including in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
That familial quality came to the fore on Tarima’s debut when she showed impressive pace under Chris Hayes to come from last to first in a slowly run maiden crammed with classic pedigrees.
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Which of those two top-notchers Tarima takes after in terms of distance shapes as one of the most fascinating aspects of the 2025 flat campaign for her trainer. One thrived at a mile, the other at a mile and half: perhaps a split down the middle, and a French Oaks attempt in June, might ultimately prove a classic answer.
Giddily getting too far ahead on the back of a single impressive performance is another annual feature of a still emergent flat campaign but Tarima’s cramped 4/7 SP indicated this was no surprise.
“I would see her going beyond a mile but have an open mind on when we go beyond a mile. The Irish 1,000 Guineas has to be a consideration, but let’s take smaller steps first,” said Weld.
“Each one of the sisters are so different. Tahiyra was a champion two-year-old filly and yet Tarnawa wins the Breeders’ Cup over a mile and a half and she gets beat half a length for the Arc. So there’s a tremendous blend of speed and stamina that runs through the family,” he added.
Swelter perhaps surprised with the pace she showed but blended with some impressive grit it meant she saw off the odds-on Exactly in a race Weld won with the subsequent Irish Guineas heroine Homeless Songs in 2022.
“I was delighted with her as it was only her second start. She won over a mile here last year, and my concern was that seven furlongs might be a little too sharp for her. My reason for running her was that she would learn a lot from it, and I thought she came home very nicely.
“We’ll see how she comes out of the race, but my present thoughts would be to head for something like the Irish 1,000 Guineas. She is a filly that will hopefully get 10 furlongs as the season progresses.”
On a bright afternoon in Leopardstown’s first flat fixture of the year it all spelt massive encouragement for the perennial figure still mixing it at the highest level of the game after more than half a century.
Weld’s training career began as a callow 23-year-old with a winner on New Year’s Day in 1972 at the long defunct Baldoyle track, and in the interim has included ground-breaking exploits of truly global significance.
Ezeliya’s Oaks victory at Epsom last June was the 25th English and Irish classic success in a catalogue that began all of 44 years ago with Blue Wind in the same race.
Weld described his squad for 2025 as a “middle-sized team” but it is underpinned by an undimmed competitive drive reflected in the silks carried by his latest pair of winners.
The long-term impact of the Aga Khan’s death last month has yet to be seen, but his daughter, Princess Zahra, continues to oversee runners in the famous green silks that still represent a major international operation.
Outside of Coolmore and Godolphin there is no bigger or more successful operation than Swelter’s ownership Juddmonte. They do not entrust their charges to anyone still not ruthlessly driven to succeed.
