AIDEN O'BRIEN expects the return to a mile in the Coolmore
Fastnet Rock Matron Stakes on Saturday week to revive the fortunes of English and Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Hermosa.
while the Coolmore
Fastnet Rock Matron Stakes, the last if five live races on RTE, will start at 5.25.
A total of 19 people - 15 sailors and four spectators - died in the Irish Sea in August 1979 when a freak storm wreaked havoc with more than 300 yachts as they raced from southern England to the
Fastnet rock off the coast of Cork.
The 605 nautical mile toughest of races will take the crew out of the Solent, across the Celtic Sea, round the iconic
Fastnet Rock and on to the finish into Plymouth where there will be a mass of arrivals from August 4-8.
The disaster results in the construction the
Fastnet Rock lighthouse.
A Group 1-winner in Australia, the son of
Fastnet Rock was sent to Aidan o'Brien with the aim of winning at this year's Royal Ascot.
Caption: Top: LANDMARK MOMENT Round the iconic
Fastnet Rock or the Teardrop of Ireland', one of the leaders sets course for Plymouth.
The race takes the fleet from England's south coast to the
Fastnet Rock off southern Ireland, then back across the Irish Sea to the finish in Plymouth.
NAUGHTY OR NICE (John Oxx) THE
Fastnet Rock filly is interesting in the Ribblesdale Stakes on Thursday.
The
Fastnet Rock colt was taking a major rise in class just 13 days after a maiden win at Leopardstown, but he came through this test in good style.
During his twenty-one years of service, Butler worked at the lighthouses of Bull Rock, Mizen Head, the Old Head of Kinsale, and
Fastnet Rock. His true stories include tales of crews battling the elements in a fight for survival, and a detailed, eyewitness recollection of the 1979 Fastnet yacht race of 3,000 competitors; when a deadly storm surprised the racers, over 4,000 rescuers labored to save lives.
Gerald Butler joined Irish Lights in 1969 and spent over 21 years tending to lighthouses on the coast of Ireland, including
Fastnet Rock, the site of a tragic 1979 yacht race.