Thursday’s £500,000 highlight for fillies and mares is the second of three Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Win and You’re In races at the York Ebor meeting, offering a guaranteed fees-paid berth in the $2m Maker’s Mark Filly & Mare Turf at Keeneland on November 5
Alpinista bids for a fifth straight G1 win in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks, a race in which she finished second to Love as a 33-1 chance in 2020, and a ‘Win and You’re In’ contest for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Trained by Sir Mark Prescott, this grey mare is a thorough professional. Her recent Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud win on ground much faster than the official good to soft was a top-class effort from off the pace, but she is equally effective when ridden more handily, as when beating the subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso in the Grosser Preis von Berlin last year for the first of three G1s in Germany.
The three main market rivals to Alpinista are all travelling from Ireland, and it is no surprise that one of them is trained by six-time Yorkshire Oaks winner Aidan O’Brien, whose Tuesday will bid to follow in the footsteps of Love (2020) and Snowfall (2021), who both also won the Oaks. Tuesday has since finished only fourth when taking on colts in the Irish Derby, but that was a muddling affair.
Jessica Harrington’s Irish Oaks winner Magical Lagoon has a similar chance on paper, while Paddy Twomey-trained La Petite Coco has yet to be beaten in a Group race, having followed last year’s G3 and G2 wins with a G1 defeat of My Astra in the Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh on her reappearance in June.
Raclette, an improving Frankel filly from the stable of Andre Fabre, will also merit respect, having won a Listed race and a G2 event at Longchamp on her last two starts.
The Yorkshire Oaks is a natural stepping stone towards the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, although Islington in 2003 is the only winner of both races in the same year. Midday had won at Santa Anita the autumn before she won the Yorkshire Oaks in 2010, and then at Churchill Downs later that year she was second.
More recently Queen’s Trust won the 2016 Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita after finishing third in the Yorkshire Oaks. A year later she was third again at York but only fifth at Del Mar.
Top contenders
Alpinista (Sir Mark Prescott/Luke Morris) – top-class middle-distance filly who has won the last six of her seven starts since chasing home Love as a 33-1 chance here two years ago; last four wins have been in three German G1 races, beating subsequent Arc winner Torquator Tasso on the first occasion, and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
Tuesday (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) – followed places in 1m fillies’ Classics at Newmarket and the Curragh with a short-head defeat of Emily Upjohn in the Oaks (deserves plenty of credit as she’s a late foal and only turned three the same day); remote fourth when taking on colts in Irish Derby, but that was a muddling race.
Magical Lagoon (Jessica Harrington/Shane Foley) – half-sister to King George winner Novellist; followed Ribblesdale Stakes defeat of Sea Silk Road at Royal Ascot by beating Toy in Irish Oaks, where she went to the front easily and was always doing enough; could well improve again.
La Petite Coco (Paddy Twomey/Billy Lee) – improves with every race and took another step forward when beating My Astra in G1 Pretty Polly Stakes on belated reappearance over 1m2f at Curragh in June; races for Team Valor and trainer has already spoken of a possible trip to Breeders’ Cup.
Shall we talk about it?
Sir Mark Prescott, trainer of Alpinista:“She has been very professional in an under-the- radar way. It was harder after she won in France to say that her form wasn’t good, although we had a slice of luck in that the ground was quite firm and everyone else was disappointed that it wasn’t the ‘good to soft’ that was advertised.”
Aidan O’Brien, trainer of Tuesday:“Tuesday has had a break and has come back very well. She’s done well physically and this looks a nice start back for her for the autumn. She was a very late foal who has been playing catch up all the time, and the Irish Derby was a bit of a mess. The race was in two halves and the first three got away, so we don’t accept that that was her running.” (speaking to Sporting Life)
Jessica Harrington, trainer of Magical Lagoon:“Magical Lagoon will improve again, and if she stays in training next year she could be a fabulous filly. I knew she would keep finding (in the Irish Oaks) like she did at Ascot, although they probably did not go as quickly here as they did that day.”
Paddy Twomey, trainer of La Petite Loco: “We very much had the second half of the season in mind for La Petite Coco from the start of the year and the Yorkshire Oaks has been the plan all along. She’s a good filly and she’s in good form. The Pretty Polly was a mile and a quarter but she’s won at a mile and a half and I’d say that’s her ideal trip. She might go to the Breeders’ Cup later, but not necessarily. There are other races for her and I think wherever her chance looks best, Team Valor will be happy to go.”
Graham Dench’s verdict
Alpinista is a late developer who has been superbly placed to win four successive G1s in Europe, but this is undoubtedly a stronger affair and she may struggle to continue her winning spree against three-year-old Classic winners Magical Lagoon and TUESDAY. Aidan O’Brien has a tremendous record in this race – and the vibes about Tuesday are strong.
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