Lake Victoria completed a Group 1 double Sunday at The Curragh for trainer Aidan O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore, winning the Irish 1000 Guineas by 2 1/4 lengths.
Her facile victory came one race after Moore rode the O’Brien-trained Los Angeles to a hard-fought victory in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
Lake Victoria stormed through a perfect five-race campaign last year at age 2, winning Group 1 races from six furlongs to one mile, the latter at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filles Turf. Lake Victoria’s first start at age 3 also marked her first defeat, but connections put a decent fifth-place finish in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket down to rustiness following a winter break, insisting that Lake Victoria needed the start and would improve.
She probably did, but meeting softer competition Sunday also helped. Settling into the pocket, drafting behind pacesetting longshot California Dreamer, Lake Victoria traveled comfortably and was ready when Moore came off the fence to hunt a hole with about three furlongs remaining. Lake Victoria squeezed between California Dreamer and a fading Duty First, pushed to the lead and drew away to the finish.
California Dreamer, a 50-1 chance, held second by 1 3/4 lengths over Cercene. Lake Victoria, a daughter of Frankel and the Showcasing mare Quiet Reflection, paid $2.60 and ran one mile over good ground in a snappy 1:36.38. Now a six-time winner from seven starts, Lake Victoria probably runs next in the Coronation Stakes, a one-turn mile at Royal Ascot.
One race earlier, Los Angeles made it three wins from three starts at The Curragh, winning the Tattersalls Gold Cup by a half-length over Anmaat a little less than a year after capturing the Irish Derby on the same course. Racing prominently from the start of this 1 5/16-mile contest, Los Angeles made the lead with a little more than a quarter-mile remaining and looked like he’d sail home before Anmaat made a run.
Racing for the first time since posting a massive upset last October in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot, Anmaat showed that very soft ground in the Champion didn’t have everything to do with his shock victory. The Curragh course played on the firm side of good this weekend, but Anmaat ran to his best form, drawing alongside Los Angeles in the final furlong, perhaps poking his nose in front, before the favorite turned him away. Kalpana, the surprising heavy favorite on the U.S. tote, lacked room to make his move after stalking the pace along the inside and finished decently for third. White Birch, winner of the 2024 Tattersalls Gold Cup, had some traffic of his own but turned in a somewhat flat showing and checked in fourth.
Los Angeles paid $9.40 to win and was timed in a quick 2:08.41. The 4-year-old colt is by Camelot out of Frequential, by Dansili, and is set to start next in the Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot.
*** Sosie wins second straight Group 1
In France on Sunday, Sosie made it two Group 1 wins from two starts this year when he wore down Sardinian Warrior and won the Prix d’Ispahan by one length.
Fourth last fall in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Sosie had narrowly captured the Prix Ganay in his first start at age 4, and his challenge Sunday was turning back to a distance as short as 1 1/8 miles for the first time since October 2023. He did so successfully, but needed most of the homestretch to get past a tough Sardinian Warrior, an England shipper making his Group 1 debut.
Andre Fabre, who trains Sosie for the Wertheimer Brothers, raced Sosie at a shorter trip in the Ispahan as a trial run for the 1 1/4-mile Eclipse Stakes this summer in England. Sosie, ridden by Maxime Guyon, is by Sea the Stars out of Sosia, by Shamardal.
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