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Juddmonte's Kalpana clings on from Sparan Nua in a great finish in the Yorkshire Oaks
Thursday's G1 Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks promised to be a renewal for the ages and it delivered on that guarantee as three-time elite-level heroine Kalpana (Study Of Man) inched out the Jim Bolger-trained Sparan Nua (Dawn Approach) in a thriller and collected a fifth Group 1 victory in as many weeks for the relentless Juddmonte-Andrew Balding axis.
“You knew after going a couple of furlongs it was going to be messy and passing the three (furlong marker) I thought the pacemaker was gone,” said Juddmonte's Barry Mahon.
“Colin (Keane) had to commit probably a bit sooner than he wanted. He had to chase her down a little bit, so she was always going to be vulnerable to something closing late, but she's gutsy and knows where the line is. She put her head down and it wasn't pretty, but she got the job done and that's the main thing.
"Fast ground, slow ground, she's just very versatile and the ultimate pro now. She's fully matured now at five years of age and keeps answering all the questions, so it's wonderful.”
"Fast ground, slow ground, she's (Kalpana) just very versatile and the ultimate pro now. She's fully matured now at five years of age and keeps answering all the questions, so it's wonderful.” - Barry Mahon
With connections' G1 Juddmonte International hero Item (Frankel) also in the mix for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Mahon spoke of future logistics.
“We have the horse from yesterday, so whether he'll go to the Arc and we wait for Ascot (and the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares) with this filly, we have to sit down and discuss all that,” he added.
“It's a nice problem to have. Item is definitely a top-of-the-ground horse and he got away with the good-to-soft here yesterday. Colin said this filly doesn't enjoy the softer ground as much as she did last year and felt she enjoyed the faster ground in Ascot more than she did today.
"I wouldn't have thought we'd run both in the Arc, but that will be the owners' decision. Ascot was always the target with this filly and it would make sense to sidestep the Arc if the ground is good, but that's a big 'if'. She probably will retire at the end of the year and whether she'll finish at Ascot, or whether she'll go to the Breeders' Cup, there's a lot of variables to work out.”
The 10-11 favourite was settled way off the pace of this Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” in seventh as Ballydoyle's G1 Oaks third Sugar Island (Dubawi) established a clear lead up front. Leading the pursuit to reduce the rabbit's 20-length buffer in the straight, she used up more energy than ideal in getting to the front approaching the final furlong and was running on vapours as Newtown Anner's G1 Irish Oaks third powered home late to make it a pixel-splitter on the line.
Last year's winner Minnie Hauk (Frankel) stayed on in pleasing fashion to finish 2 1/2 lengths back in third, herself 3 1/2 lengths clear of G2 Ribblesdale victrix Earth Shot (Time Test) in fourth.
“We are thrilled,” said Newtown Anner Stud's PJ Colville after Sparan Nua's runner-up finish.
“We went to Leopardstown on a fact-finding mission and just wanted to drop her back to a mile last time. She races a little bit lazily sometimes and we thought a mile might just sharpen her up for today. We just got a little bit squeezed a furlong-and-a-half out and that just maybe stopped our momentum for a second. She showed a lot of guts and the wheels are back on, but I'm not yet sure where we will go.
"We will speak to Jim (Bolger) and Maurice (Regan), but she could go to the Blandford over a mile-and-a-quarter, the (G1)Prix de l'Opera in France and then you have the (G1) Fillies & Mares at Ascot. She seemed to handle the ground, she got through it so that's important coming into the autumn.”
Reflecting on the run of last year's winner Minnie Hauk, Aidan O'Brien said, “She ran very well. Sugar Island was there for everyone, so that did not affect Minnie Hauk's performance.”
Pedigree Notes: Kalpana is the eighth of 11 foals and leading performer from a half-dozen winners produced by Listed Prix Petite Etoile victrix Zero Gravity (Dansili), herself a full-sister to G1 Grand Prix de Paris-winning sire Zambezi Sun (Dansili) and the dual stakes-placed Shared Account (Dansili).
Zero Gravity is also a half-sister to G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano victor Kalabar (Kahyasi) and the multiple Group-placed G2 Prix Eugene Adam runner-up World Heritage (Kahyasi).
Shared Account, in turn, is the dam of four stakes performers headed by dual Group 3 winner Better Together (Oasis Dream) and G3 Prix des Reservoirs and G3 Athenia Stakes victrix Pocket Square (Night Of Thunder).
The winner, who hails from the family of G1 July Cup and G1 Prix de l'Abbaye hero Continent (Lake Coniston), is kin to a yearling filly by Chaldean.
Sun Goddess sensational in The Harry's Half Million
We already knew that Ballydoyle's Sun Goddess (Sioux Nation) was the real deal after her Phoenix Stakes win, but Thursday's display in York's Harry's Half Million By Goffs was something to behold.
Left at the back on the unfavoured part of the track from the outset, the even-money favourite who had brushed aside Group 1 company on quick ground at The Curragh 11 days earlier was playing catch-up under Ryan Moore even before she was badly hampered passing two out.
What followed was hard to fathom, as she went from a game-over scenario to in front within the space of a furlong before bounding into clear daylight to win in a time marginally quicker than the preceding Lowther. Six lengths separated her from the 80-1 outsider Battle Fever (Sands Of Mali), with Speed Of Sound (Sioux Nation) 3/4 of a length away in third.
“She's obviously a very good filly, but we weren't sure about soft ground,” Aidan O'Brien said.
“They went very fast and she's best ridden that way. It would have been easy to put her away, but she came out of the race well and this is a great initiative, so we came here instead of the Group 2 as she's already a Group 1 winner. She's a Cheveley Park filly and then she could go to the Breeders' Cup over a mile.”
Moore added, “She's very professional, they went hard early and I got a bit pushed down, one rolled on top of me but I got out in plenty of time. It's not ideal when you get a trip like that, but she's a Group 1 winner and won easy. She was always doing it very easy.”
Sun Goddess is currently the last known foal out of the unraced Etoile Bleu (Starspangledbanner), a half-sister to the four-times South African Group winner Gibraltar Blue (Rock Of Gibraltar) and the Phoenix Sprint Stakes winner Scream Blue Murder (Oratorio). The latter's Listed-winning and Group 2-placed daughter Too Soon To Panic (Gleneagles) is the dam of the recent Prix Jean Prat and Jersey Stakes hero Thesecretadversary (St Mark's Basilica).
Libertango wins The Lowther, Breeders' Cup in her sights
Entering Thursday's G2 Sky Bet Lowther Stakes the proven one, the Albany winner Libertango (No Nay Never) emerged best in the York contest to further enhance her record.
Buried behind the main group by jockey Billy Loughnane as he switched from the stands' side to the centre, the 3-1 second favourite was eventually delivered on the far rail to overhaul the 9-4 market-leader Star Of State (State Of Rest) and prevail by half a length. Juddmonte's blueblood Jolivette (Wootton Bassett) was a further length behind the Joseph O'Brien-trained TDN Rising Star in third.
Beaten in Newmarket's Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes following her Royal Ascot success, Vefa Ibrahim Araci's 400,000gns (AU$805,000) Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up purchase was putting matters right here with her rider blaming himself for her last defeat.
“I thought Joseph's filly would stay and I got it wrong at Newmarket, as she's a filly who enjoys having a target for as long as possible,” Loughnane said.
“Ascot to Newmarket is a quick turnaround and she's had a bit of time after that to strengthen up and relax. She might get a little bit further in time, but at the moment she's all about speed.”
George Boughey has only the sprint tests in mind for the moment.
“She's all about speed and it'll be the Cheveley Park now and maybe on to the Breeders' Cup after,” he said. “She needs that bit of trouble in running and she'll love it in America. I do think when we see her back in trip at five, we might see an even more explosive filly so it'll be the Sprint Turf at Keeneland rather than the mile.
“We had a bit of a gameplan to try and come across, we wanted to get on the back of the ones that we thought were going to take us closest into the race,” he added. “She needs to find a tail, get into a bit of trouble and massive credit to Billy as he did exactly what we tried to do at Ascot. The ground slightly dampened the enthusiasm, but she got away with it.
Despite sticking to the speed tests at two, Boughey was not ruling out training Libertango for the 1,000 Guineas in the spring.
“I think naturally you have to train a horse for a race like the Guineas, but the Commonwealth Cup is there for her to come back to,” he explained. “My suspicion is that she will look very fast when it comes to the trials and we go Pavilion before Royal Ascot, but all cards are on the table at the moment.”
Joseph O'Brien said of Star Of State, “She's proven she's a high-class filly today and we think the best is yet to come. The winner is obviously a top-class filly and she picked our pocket a bit, but I like ours long-term. Undoubtedly she'll stay further than this, but there's no rush to lock in to her next target. I think she's an exciting filly for the future.”
Pedigree Notes: Libertango is the first of three current foals out of the dam, all by No Nay Never, with Ein Gedi (Oasis Dream) being a full-sister to the owner's Solario Stakes winner Aktabantay (Oasis Dream) and half to the Prix Imprudence-winning Spanish champion 2-year-old filly Reina Madre (Kingman). The second dam Splashdown (Falbrav), who captured the Ballymacoll Stud Stakes, is kin to the Height of Fashion winner Cosmodrome (Bahri) and Theatrical's Graded-Stakes-placed sire Tadreeb.
Her yearling colt was a €620,000 (AU$1,000,000) purchase by Rob Speers for Old Mill Stud during Monday's session of the Arqana Deauville August Yearling Sale, while her 2026 offering by the sire is a filly.
