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Lake Victoria stretches unbeaten record to 4, in Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes

Ryan Moore

Ryan Moore riding City Of Troy on their way to winning the 16:30 Betfred Derby on June 1, 2024, at Epsom Downs Racecourse, Britain.
 

Photo credit: Matthew Childs | Reuters

Aiden O'Brien reached the coveted enclosure a fifth time, after Lake Victoria (Ryan Moore 2-1), stretched her unbeaten record to four, in the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes.

Lake Victoria could yet join City Of Troy for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, but she could also return to Britain in a fortnight for another Newmarket. Her presence in the 2025 Betfred 1,000 Guineas, is assured if health stays intact. Shortened to 7-4 favourite for the Classic was an obvious reaction, if one had the privilege of seeing her on the Rowley Mile. Daylight and Arabian Dusk, had no answers.

With such talent at his disposal, it would be no surprise to see Aiden plus the Coolmore partners take a bold approach with Lake Victoria, as they can always call upon Bedtime Story, Fairy Godmother, Bubbling, and, Dreamy.

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Trying to find the winner of Britain’s big-field Flat handicaps is simple - just follow Karl Burke. A week on from saddling the first, second and third in the 25-runner Ayr Gold Cup, Karl was reiterating a major success, when Liberty Lane (Clifford Lee 5-1), ran free as a 2.5 length striker of the 31-runner bet365 Cambridgeshire. Carrying top weight, Liberty Lane made the most of what proved to be a favourably low draw in stall four – the first seven home in the were drawn 11 or lower.

The Cambridgeshire was the second handicap Liberty Lane has won at a premier meeting this season, having also branded the Suffolk Stakes. After that win, owner-breeder Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, spoke about how, in terms value for money, he felt moving the bulk of his horses out of Newmarket to trainers in other parts of the country was a wise move, stating that it had saved him in the region of £1 million a year.

But clearly saving money is far from the only motivation for the owner, as Karl, Kevin Ryan and Richard Hannon, have excelled with his horses, producing the likes of St James’s Palace Stakes winner Rosallion, Commonwealth Cup scorer Inisherin, and Celebration Miler, Ice Max, among others.

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The final day of Listowel’s harvest festival started with an enormous shock as Kingdom Calling (Ruchie Deegan) struck the maiden hurdle at 250-1. Willie Mullins had been expected to take the 2m contest with Korea, but he was weak in the market, going off 11-8 having opened up at 4-9, and faded in the straight after a noticeable blunder at the penultimate hurdle.

Gavin Cromwell's, Kazakh D'Arthel, appeared set to capitalise, but the 5-2 second favourite was reeled in after the last by outsider Kingdom Calling, who won by half a length.

Trained by Eoin McCarthy, who is based near Listowel, the four-year-old had failed to make an impact in his first three starts. He was beaten in Bumpers by 30 and 95 lengths, respectively. He fared little better on his debut hurdle outing at Tramore ten days ago, beaten 47 lengths, as an unfancied 66-1 shot, so this represented a major upturn in fortunes. Kingdom Calling is the third longest-priced winner on record in Ireland. That's what makes racing so tumultuous.