By Tom Frary
Continuing Ballydoyle's clean sweep of the week's Derby and Oaks trials, Saxon Warrior's Garden Of Eden stepped up to the mark in Saturday's Listed Darley Irish EBF Naas Oaks Trial Stakes. Up from a mile for the first time, last year's Listed Ingabelle Stakes runner-up relished the extra two furlongs and 84 yards as she swooped inside the final furlong under Ben Coen to score by a length from Mehmas's Jaliyah.
“Obviously I was running her over the wrong trip, she wanted to go further,” Aidan O'Brien said. “Saxon Warrior is doing very well and obviously they are middle-distance horses and Ben even said she'd get a mile-and-a-half. She has a little bit of class and I'd say she loved the ground. All those races are open to her now, she's in that picture now.”
€200,000 buy Garden Of Eden (Saxon Warrior x Komedy) wins the Oaks Trial for yet another winner for Aidan O'Brien @NaasRacecourse 🏆 pic.twitter.com/sELE1JVrrk
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 10, 2025
Garden Of Eden's dam Komedy by Kodiac, who is also responsible for Acclamation's G3 Molecomb Stakes-placed Internationaldream, is a full-sister to the dual listed scorer and G3 Sweet Solera Stakes-placed On Her Toes and a half to the listed winner and dual Group-placed Jane's Memory by Captain Rio. Her yearling full-brother to Garden Of Eden was a €250,000 purchase by Jamie McCalmont Bloodstock at the Goffs November Foal Sale.
DARLEY IRISH EBF NAAS OAKS TRIAL STAKES-Listed, €55,000, Naas, 5-10, 3yo, f, 10fT, 2:15.05, gd.
1–GARDEN OF EDEN (IRE), 128, f, 3, by Saxon Warrior (Jpn)
1st Dam: Komedy (Ire), by Kodiac (GB)
2nd Dam: Dancing Jest (Ire), by Averti (Ire)
3rd Dam: Mezzanine (GB), by Sadler's Wells
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. (€160,000 Wlg '22 GOFNO1; €200,000 Ylg '23 GOFOR). O-Mrs John Magnier & Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-Mark Hanly & Stephanie Hanly; T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ben Coen. €33,000. Lifetime Record: 8-2-1-0, $75,120.
2–Jaliyah (Ire), 128, f, 3, Mehmas (Ire)–I'm Donna (Ire), by Frankel (GB).
1ST BLACK TYPE. (80,000gns Ylg '23 TATOCT). O-Giselle De Aguiar & AMO Racing Limited; B-Corduff Stud & Farmleigh Bloodstock Ltd; T-Adrian Murray. €11,000.
3–Island Hopping (Ire), 128, f, 3, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Heaven Of Heavens (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). O-Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith & Mrs John Magnier; B-Coolmore; T-Aidan O'Brien. €5,500.
Margins: 1, 3/4, 3. Odds: 6.00, 6.00, 1.75.
Also Ran: Medici Venus, Tamam Desert (Ire), Hollys Graces (Ire), Gotomylovely (Ire), Kalixa (Ire).
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