Irish War Cry Scores the Upset in Holy Bull

Nearly ten years to the day that his sire signaled his brilliance over the Gulfstream Park track,Irish War Cry signaled that he could follow in his father's footsteps as a force on the Triple Crown trail.

The first seismic shift among the 3-year-old male class for 2017 hit Feb. 4 when Isabelle de Tomaso's homebred Irish War Cry took down reigning juvenile champion Classic Empireand five others in front-running fashion to win the $350,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes (G2).

Trained by Graham Motion, Irish War Cry was making just his third career start and first try against graded stakes company. Ten years and one day to the anniversary of his sire, eventual two-time Horse of the Year Curlin  , breaking his maiden over the Gulfstream surface, Irish War Cry looked every bit the professional as he led every point of call while Classic Empire struggled home third behind grade 3 winner Gunnevera.

With Joel Rosario up, Irish War Cry got away strong from post No. 5 and was cruising under his own power through fractions of :24.14 and :47.92 with Talk Logistics second Classic Empire in an outside path in third down the backstretch.

While Rosario still had not moved on Irish War Cry around the final turn, jockey Julien Leparoux began asking Classic Empire for more run but got little response from the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner as he suffered just his second loss in six career starts.

"You know he's a pretty classy horse," Motion said of Irish War Cry. "He was so classy today and he handled everything so well. I had a feeling we'd end up on the lead and I was feeling pretty good at the quarter pole."

Irish War Cry hit the wire well clear of second-place finisher Gunnevera in a final time of 1:42.52 for the 1 1/16 miles. Sent off at 4-1, he returned $10.80, $4 and $2.20 across the board.