Improved Barnaby for Funcaandun rematch

THOUGH SPARINGLY raced, BARNABY might very well be the most improved horse out of last year’s Mouttet Mile, a point he could underline against FUNCAANDUN, winner of the US$250,000 race, when they meet in Saturday’s Distinctly Irish Trophy at nine furlongs and 25 yards.

United States-bred runners from the barns of champion Jason DaCosta and rival Anthony Nunes, FUNCAANDUN and BARNABY are 1-1 after two meetings, FUNCAANDUN holding the Mouttet Mile Premiership trophy and Horse of the Year title.

However, BARNABY was six lengths better than third-placed FUNCAANDUN in the April 5 Ian Levy Cup, their first meeting of the 2025 season, which could be regarded as a ‘home’ win for Nunes’ runner, considering it was the Mouttet Mile champion’s first outing this year.

BARNABY reported razor-sharp for the Ian Levy at eight and a half furlongs, chasing down local champion mare ATOMICA, who he had similarly dispatched in the Chairman’s Trophy at seven and a half furlongs on February 22.

Both winning times posted by BARNABY have been among the fastest this season, 1:43.4 for the Ian levy and 1:31.2 in the Chairman’s Trophy, bettered only by RIDEALLDAY’s 1:31.1 in the Poorlittlerichgirl two weeks ago.

After finishing third in the grade-one Ian Levy behind BARNABY and ATOMICA, FUNCAANDUN, winner of last year’s richest grade-one race, somehow found himself in grade two, open allowance, first beating last year’s Oaks winner, RUN JULIE RUN, in the June 15 Mark My Word Trophy at nine furlongs and 25 yards.

After seeing off local-bred RUN JULIE RUN mid–June, FUNCAANDUN returned to chase down six-year-old mare DESERT OF MALIBU at a mile in the She’s A Maneater on July 26, catching the sprinter at the wire, whipped 24 times by Robert Halledeen throughout the race.

BARNABY’s grade-one victories against ATOMICA, suggest he has improved leaps and bounds, reversing six lengths on FUNCAANDUN in the Ian Levy, his exact losing margin in the Mouttet Mile.

Whereas FUNCAANDUN was already a seasoned local campaigner entering the Mouttet Mile with seven wins from 10 starts under his girth last season, it was BARNABY’s second race on local soil, having debuted with an easy overnight-allowance victory a month earlier.

To have reversed his Mouttet Mile margin of defeat to FUNCAANDUN in four months, BARNABY appears fully acclimatised and has impressed at exercise, clocking 1:13.0 for six furlongs last Saturday morning, putting FUNCAANDUN’s 1:16.1 to shame.

A US$40,000 claim at Churchill Downs last summer, imported specifically for the Mouttet Mile, BARNABY (Tapiture-Giant’s Diva) is a grandson of Giant’s Causeway, the United States-bred, Irish-trained son of Storm Cat, who won five Group One races in Great Britain and Ireland as a three-year-old.