Lake Victoria stretched her unbeaten record to 5-0 with a stunning victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday, as Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien warmed up for his latest Classic quest with two wins in Del Mar, California.
Squeezed through the first turn, Lake Victoria recovered under a composed ride from jockey Ryan Moore, who swung her three-wide and found a gap, passing pace-setter Thought Process at the eighth pole.
She easily held off May Day Ready to win by 1 1/2 lengths as Nitrogen rallied for third.
“She got pushed from the outside, she got pushed into the fence and that was that, we had to come back,” Moore said. “It puts you at a disadvantage, but they’d gone very quick. As soon as they got halfway down the back straight most of the horses were done.”
O’Brien praised Moore’s “cool” ride in Lake Victoria’s first race around turns and her first at the mile distance.
“She’s very special,” O’Brien said.
The daughter of Frankel gave O’Brien a 19th Breeders’ Cup victory, and he bagged his 20th — equalling D. Wayne Lukas’s record — when Henri Matisse, with Moore aboard, won the one mile, $1 million Juvenile Turf.
But O’Brien has yet to taste success in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with two runner-up finishes his best to show in 17 prior starts.
He hopes that will change on Saturday when he sends out City of Troy in the 1 1/4-mile, $7 million Classic, hoping the world’s top turf horse can make a triumphant transition to a North American dirt track.
The two-day, 14-race programme kicked off with five races for two-year-olds — the slate dubbed “Future Stars Friday.”
Citizen Bull won the 1 1/16-mile, $2 million Juvenile, giving trainer Bob Baffert a one-two ahead of stablemate Gaming in the race traditionally considered a pointer to next year’s Kentucky Derby.
Favorite East Avenue stumbled badly out of the gate and was never a factor.
Impressive Immersive
Immersive swept to an impressive victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, ensuring trainer Brad Cox at least one Breeders’ Cup win for a seventh straight year.
With Manny Franco aboard, the Godolphin filly powered to the lead as they turned for home in the 1 1/16-mile race, effortlessly flying to an 4 1/2-length victory over Vodka With a Twist.
Quickick was third in the $2 million race, overtaking a fading Scottish Lassie on the straight.
Franco was content to let Immersive settle off the blazing pace, and when she made her move coming out of the final turn it was clear she wouldn’t be denied.
Ireland’s Magnum Force opened the European contingent’s account in the first race of the weekend, the Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Running in the middle of the pack in the 13-horse field, Magnum Force surged late under jockey Colin Keane to win the five-furlong race at odds of 12-1.
It was a first Breeders’ Cup win for trainer Ger Lyons and a second for Keane.
Arizona Blaze, trained by Adrian Murray and ridden by Umberto Rispoli, was second to make it an Irish one-two in the $1 million race.
Governor Sam was third as Japanese speedball Ecoro Sieg, winner of his last two starts, was sent off as favorite but got jostled early and was never a factor.