O’Brien and Moore land 1,000 Guineas with daughter of Galileo
The combination of Aidan O’Brien, Ryan Moore and Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) have produced countless elite-level victories, and that was again the case at Newmarket yesterday as Love took out the first fillies Classic of the year, the 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m).
In an almost identical scenario to Saturday’s 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m), unbeaten Group 1 winner Quadrilateral (Frankel) went into the race as the firm favourite and loomed up to the front runners in the final stages of the race, but it was Love who stormed down the centre of the track to win by of four and a quarter lengths with the minimum of fuss.
The Richard Hannon-trained Cloak Of Spirits (Invincible Spirit) was second with Quadrilateral holding on to finish a head away in third.
Winner of the Moyglare Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) at the Curragh last year, Love’s only previous start over the Guineas course was in the Newmarket Fillies’ Mile (Gr 1, 1m) last November, where she was third behind Quadrilateral.
The three-year-old’s victory in front of an empty Rowley Mile grandstand was O’Brien’s fourth win in the race in five years and the fourth overall for Moore.
“She was in control of the race a long way out,” the jockey said. “She won as she liked, really. She’s a very uncomplicated filly and we’ve always thought an awful lot of her.
“She won the Moyglare last year and we expected her to win the Fillies’ Mile – I don’t know if it was too soft for her that day. She’s a typical Galileo filly. If it wasn’t for her last run last year you’d have been pretty confident she was the one to beat today.”
Love has shortened into odds of 2-1 on Betway for next month’s Epsom Oaks (Gr 1, 1m 4f) and Moore said: “I’d say it’s a possibility that she’d stay (1m 4f at Epsom).
“At the moment she looks the best three-year-old filly around. I don’t know what the plan is but I’d say the Oaks is an option for her.”
O’Brien added: “We’re delighted with her. She was doing everything right all through the winter and the spring.
“She’s a lovely filly. We always thought she would get much further than a mile. She showed she got a mile last year and we always thought we’d start here and then maybe go on to the Oaks and I think that’s what the lads were thinking about doing.
“She was well and that was her target all the time. Ryan gave her a beautiful ride, very uncomplicated, he got her in a lovely rhythm and I couldn’t have been happier really. He had her well balanced into the dip, she’s very genuine and she had her head out and ran to the line.
“We were very happy with her run last year (in the Fillies’ Mile). Looking at the race, it was a very small distance we had to make up.
“We were delighted with her run in the Moyglare. We thought she handled Newmarket very well and we thought the experience she had last year would have done her good for this year.”
Due to the UK lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Guineas was run a month later than normal and O’Brien said that provided some extra challenges when preparing the filly for her first-up assignment.
“It was a little bit tricky as it was a bit stop and start, usually it’s a little bit dangerous when you do that. You have a target, you think you have a target and you have to train for it and then it moves – it just makes it a little bit complicated,” he said.
“Everyone has been great, everyone has been very focused and everybody has put a lot of work into her.
“Obviously she’s a beautifully-bred filly by Galileo and I’m delighted for the lads. She’s a special filly.”
Richard Hannon is the only trainer to have broken O’Brien’s 1,000 Guineas stranglehold since 2016 with Billesdon Brook (Champs Elysees) in 2018, and the trainer has high hopes for runner-up Cloak Of Spirits, with the Coronation Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at Royal Ascot one possibility.
He said: “I’m delighted with her. She did the donkey work and stuck at it. She’s very elegant and a pretty classy filly. There will be a lot of good races in her. Maybe the Coronation Stakes could be next but I will speak to Sheikh Obaid (owner) and see what he says.
“I think being out in front suits her and I think Andrea (Atzeni, jockey) rode her perfectly. She hasn’t lit the world up with her homework but she is always like that anyway. I didn’t know what to expect but she has run a super race and beat a lot of very good fillies there.”
Like Pinatubo (Shamardal) in the 2,000 Guineas, Quadrilateral lost her unbeaten record as favourite when finishing third, but the Roger Charlton-trained filly stuck to her task doggedly, shaping like she could stay beyond a mile.
Charlton said: “She stayed on well but just got a little tired in the closing stages. She could have probably done with a little more cover but these races are being run from the front and nothing is coming from behind, so you have to be handy.
“I was happy enough with that. The track probably doesn’t play to her strengths but Jason (Watson, jockey) seemed happy enough with the run.”
The trainer added: “I don’t know what we will do going forward. I will talk to Prince Khalid [owner] first. I’d imagine she would stay further but we won’t be rushing her.”
Bred and raced by Coolmore, Love (3 f Galileo – Pikaboo by Pivotal) has had eight starts for four wins and two placings, earning £453,044 in prize-money.
She is the eighth foal, and sixth to race, out of the unplaced Pivotal (Polar Falcon) mare Pikaboo, making her a sister to Group 3 winners Peach Tree and Flattering, while she is also a half-sister to dual Group 2 scorer Lucky Kristale (Lucky Story).
Out of the Danehill (Danzig) mare Gleam Of Light, Pikaboo herself is a half-sister to triple Group 2 winner and former Ivy House Stables resident Arabian Gleam (Kyllachy) as well as dual Listed scorer Kimberella (Kyllachy).
The cross between Galileo and Pivotal mares has a 41 per cent stakes winners to runners rate with 12 individual stakes winners and six Group 1 scorers.
The Galileo / Pivotal cross is responsible for champion mare Magical and last year’s 1,000 Guineas winner Hermosa, both of whom were trained by O’Brien, as well as Ranvet Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) victor The United States.
Coolmore Ireland stalwart Galileo is the sire of 84 individual Group 1 winners, four of which have taken out yesterday’s Classic. He stands for a private fee in 2020.