Sunday, May 24, 2026 at 11:13 am |
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Updated: May 24, 2026 at 11:18 am
Lope De Vega |
Brittlan Wall
Ed Walker has long sung the praises of Almaqam (Lope De Vega) and the stable star rewarded his handler’s patience with victory in Sunday’s G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh.
Making his seasonal return in the 10 1/2-furlong prize, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum’s homebred who had last been seen finishing third in the Champion Stakes in October was moved up to shadow the Ballydoyle pacemaker with Kieran Shoemark confident in his readiness.
Taking command approaching the two-furlong pole, the 13-2 shot stayed on strongly to account for
Bay City Roller (New Bay) by two lengths, with his own half-brother Saddadd (Pinatubo) 3/4 of a length further behind as the Brits dominated. Ballydoyle’s Minnie Hauk (Frankel) was sent off the 4-6 favourite but failed to pick up and was only fifth, beaten a total of nine lengths.
The winning time of 2:06.80 was obscenely rapid, by some way the fastest in the history of the race since it was upped from 10 furlongs and made a Group 1 in 1999.
ALMAQAM 🟡⚫️
A first Group One success under Kieran Shoemark in the @Tattersalls1766 Gold Cup 🏆@curraghrace | @kingsdownstable pic.twitter.com/M9FJRoyinr
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 24, 2026
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