By Sean Cronin
With just two overmatched rivals in opposition, Aidan O'Brien trainee Giselle's superior form and class told as the daughter of Frankel overcame Lingfield's Epsom-style intricacies, delivering a facile nine-length success in the track's William Hill-sponsored Listed Oaks Trial on Saturday.
Last term's G3 Staffordstown Stud Stakes third and 3-10 pick was a shade keen racing third in a first-time hood through the initial stages of this seasonal debut. Negotiating the downhill section and taking closer order in the home straight, she seized control approaching the quarter-mile marker and bounded clear thereafter to easily outclass Harpsichord (Ribchester) by daylight for a career high. O'Brien's two previous winners of the contest include subsequent G1 Irish Oaks and G1 Yorkshire Oaks heroine Seventh Heaven (Galileo).
“I was afraid she'd be too keen, because she had been keen, and it was a good experience for her,” said O'Brien. “I don't know what was in her head this year when she started back, she was just very on the bridle and, hopefully, that will settle her.”
Coolmore's Kevin Buckley added, “Ryan [Moore] said she was a little unsettled for a time and was keen enough, but she got the job done nicely. We put the hood on her for the first time, which was okay considering they went steady. She has a fantastic pedigree and we have a lot to look forward to.”
Too easy!
Despite over-racing in the early stages, Giselle quickens up when asked by Ryan Moore, recording a straightforward success in the William Hill Oaks Trial Fillies' Stakes at @LingfieldPark… pic.twitter.com/tbRt6csD7x
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 10, 2025
Giselle, who becomes the 155th stakes winner for her sire, is the first foal out of GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and GI Just A Game Stakes heroine Newspaperoftherecord (Lope De Vega), whose Group 3-winning dam Sunday Times (Holy Roman Emperor) ran second in the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes. Sunday Times, who is also the dam of Listed Cecil Frail Stakes winner Classical Times (Lawman {Fr}), is kin to Listed Bosra Sham Fillies' Stakes runner-up Question Times (Shamardal), herself the dam of three black-type winners headed by Camelot's G1 Irish Derby hero Latrobe and multiple Group 1-placed Listed Salsabil Stakes victrix Pink Dogwood. The April-foaled bay's third dam Forever Times (So Factual) is a half-sister to multiple Group-winning dual G1 Prix de la Foret runner-up Welsh Emperor (Emperor Jones), the stakes-winning Majestic Times (Bluebird) and the Group 3-placed Brave Prospector (Oasis Dream). Newspaperoftherecord, who was bred to Justify last year, has the winner's 2-year-old full-brother Benvenuto Cellini and a yearling full-sister to come.
Saturday, Lingfield, Britain
WILLIAM HILL OAKS TRIAL FILLIES' STAKES-Listed, £60,000, Lingfield, 5-10, 3yo, f, 11f 133yT, 2:31.16, g/f.
1–GISELLE (IRE), 128, f, 3, by Frankel (GB)
1st Dam: Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (MGISW-US, $1,122,250), by Lope De Vega (Ire)
2nd Dam: Sunday Times (GB), by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire)
3rd Dam: Forever Times (GB), by So Factual
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O-Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier, Westerberg & Peter M Brant; B-Coolmore & White Birch Farm SC (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. £34,026. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-1, $67,118.
2–Harpsichord (GB), 128, f, 3, Ribchester (Ire)–Halay (GB), by Dansili (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Rabbah Racing; B-Godolphin (GB); T-Simon & Ed Crisford. £12,900.
3–Love Talk (Ire), 128, f, 3, Ten Sovereigns (Ire)–Lovelocks (Ire), by High Chaparral (Ire). (€25,000 Ylg '23 TATIRY). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Nick Bradley Racing 19 & Partner; B-Glenvale Stud & Edgeridge Ltd (IRE); T-Grant Tuer. £6,456.
Margins: 9, 2 1/4. Odds: 0.30, 4.00, 10.00.
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