If a week is a long time in politics then three weeks in the life of a thoroughbred can be transformational as Lake Victoria proved with her Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas success at the Curragh on Sunday.
Rarely can an outstanding champion juvenile have finished only sixth in a classic and left connections so pleased as Lake Victoria did after her effort behind Desert Flower in the Newmarket Guineas earlier this month.
Aidan O’Brien’s confidence that her first start of the season would bring on the filly massively was infectious enough to have her start a 10/11 favourite at the Curragh. Once again, the master trainer was proved correct.
Lake Victoria’s only challenge through the race was securing enough daylight to get off the rail behind the pacesetting 50/1 outsider California Dreamer, and Ryan Moore managed that manoeuvre with the minimum of fuss.
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Once in daylight the race was in effect over and although California Dreamer held off the 20/1 Cercene for second, just like Saturday’s 2000 Guineas success for Field Of Joy, this looked a classic case of the winner first and the rest nowhere.
It put the seal on a four-timer for Moore that comprised all four Group races on Sunday, including more top-flight success in a vintage Tattersalls Gold Cup for Los Angeles. That 9/4 favourite rallied to beat Anmaat and another pair of Group One winners.
Porta Fortuna landed the Lanwades Stud Stakes while thoughts even turned to the 2026 classics after giant two-year-old Albert Einstein landed the Marble Hill.
If that colt – lauded by O’Brien as “very special” – is all potential then Lake Victoria proved herself the real classic deal.
Unbeaten before Newmarket, and a Group One winner at three different distances in three different countries, the Frankel filly underlined the benefit of a first run of the season by scoring with total authority.
“She went to Newmarket getting ready for a racecourse gallop and was beaten only a length or two in the Guineas. She has all the speed in the world, she travels and does everything,” O’Brien said before nominating Royal Ascot’s Coronation Stakes next.
It was the trainer’s 11th win in the race and a fourth for Moore, who said: “She done everything beautifully today. She’s come on massively from Newmarket and she’s really exciting.”
Earlier, Moore had to work harder to win on Los Angeles, but once again advertised his uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time.
Last year’s Irish Derby was one of the first “under the pump”, but swept to the front in a tactical affair and when Anmaat headed him inside the final furlong, Los Angeles reacted as if affronted.
There was just a half a length between them at the line, but the imposing O’Brien colt ultimately won with authority, although the fluctuating fortunes implicit in riding at the top level were advertised in behind.
Having won Saturday’s classic on Field Of Joy with a perfectly judged spin, Colin Keane endured contrasting fortunes on White Birch, who missed out on third by a head.
Keane’s decision to try to launch a challenge on the inner rather than go to the outside resulted in a frustrating passage for the grey, who ultimately never got a proper shot at repeating his 2024 success in the race.
Los Angeles, too, will be pointed to Royal Ascot and be kept to a mile-and-a-quarter in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes. A shot at the King George and then the Arc could come later.
“That was the best he has been today. He done everything beautifully and it was a proper horse race. There was no hiding place. The second is an older horse, but he is proven at the top level and he put it up to me, but my fella found plenty,” Moore said.
“He is a Camelot and they do tend to get better as they get older and you can see the size of this lad, there is still a bit more in him. I’d say the second horse probably went a neck up, but my lad was well on top again at the line.”
If Porta Fortuna is a diminutive star on course for the Queen Anne Stakes, then the 540kg Albert Einstein will dwarf his Royal Ascot opposition in the Coventry.
The colt had to get out of a pocket in the Marble Hill, but managed it and might even ultimately live up to his billing by O’Brien, who said his counterintuitive priority with the colt is to slow him down.
“The special ones are like that,” he said. “All you’re trying to do is get them to relax all the time.”
