Lake Victoria, already the winner of Group One races over seven and six furlongs, justified odds-on favouritism in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf on Friday under a patient and resourceful ride by Ryan Moore.
Moore had few options from his draw in stall one against the rail and stoked Lake Victoria towards the lead on the run to the first turn. The favourite suffered significant interference on the bend, however, as Totally Justified moved across from Moore’s right, and she exited into the back stretch in seventh place.
Moore took his time to work his way back into the race, confident that Lake Victoria’s turn of foot would still prove decisive. He was still scraping the rail on the final turn but then picked his moment at the top of the stretch to fire Lake Victoria into the open and past the front-running Thought Process on the way to a comfortable success.
“She had very strong form coming into the race, and really all she needed was normal racing luck and a clear shot,” Moore said. “We just about managed that and she proved to be much the best.
“She got pressure on the outside [on the first turn] and got pushed into the fence, and that was that, we had to come back. When that happens, it’s significant interference and puts you at a disadvantage, but they’d gone very quick and as soon as we got halfway down the back straight, most of the horses [in front] were done.”
Lake Victoria is still unbeaten after five starts and remains favourite for next year’s 1,000 Guineas at around 3-1.
Earlier on the card, Magnum Force was a first Breeders’ Cup winner for Ger Lyons’s in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, the first of 14 Breeders’ Cup races this weekend.
Magnum Force had seven rivals in front of him with just over a furlong to run, around a turf track that is tight even by American standards and tends to favour horses ridden prominently.
Colin Keane, though, managed to thread Magnum Force up the inside rail before switching outside the front-running Governor Sam as another Irish-trained runner, Arizona Blaze, stayed on into second. Governor Sam took third with the fast-finishing Big Mojo, attempting to give Mick Appleby a second successive win in the race, a nose away in fourth.
Lyons is a Classic-winning trainer in Ireland but his successes in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Irish Oaks in 2020 were recorded while crowd restrictions were in place during the Covid epidemic.
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“We won the Oaks and the Guineas standing on our own in the stands,” Lyons said. “Now I’ll take it, don’t get me wrong, but then you come here and that’s what sportsmen want. We work hard and we have more losing days than winning days, and just to get that buzz, money can’t buy that.
“The sky’s the limit next year, because it’s all about next year. We came here to teach him how to sprint, and you have to learn how to sprint and he’s getting better and better.
“I knew he was the right horse for the job, and when you’ve Colin Keane riding for you … He’s probably the most under-rated champion jockey in the world, just because he’s a bit like his trainer, he likes to stay at home and walk his dogs.”
Europe completed a sweep of Friday’s three races on turf and Moore a double on the night as Henri Matisse took the Juvenile Turf from a wide draw in stall 13.
The win was Aidan O’Brien’s 20th success at the Breeders’ Cup, giving him a share of the all-time record at the meeting with the American legend, D Wayne Lukas.