Colin Keane and Juddmonte maintained their excellent form at the Sky Bet Ebor meeting at York, as Kalpana won Thursday’s highlight, the Group 1 Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks.
It was a second Group 1 victory in two days for Keane and Juddmonte, having won the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes with Item yesterday.
The Andrew Balding-trained Kalpana, winner of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on her most recent racecourse appearance, started today’s contest as the 10/11 favourite in the nine-runner field.
Her opposition included the winner of this race last year, Minnie Hauk (4/1), and the recent Group 1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks winner, Johanna Walsh (5/1), the mount of Dylan Browne McMonagle.
Sugar Island, the stable mate of the betting market’s second choice, Minnie Hauk, set a strong pace under Ronan Whelan, and the pair found themselves about 20 lengths ahead as they headed for the home bend.
The daughter of Dubawi found for Whelan in the straight and made the remainder of the field work to close the gap, before she was finally headed at the one-furlong pole.
As Kalpana and Keane took the lead at that stage, Jim Bolger’s Sparán Nua (25/1), with Rossa Ryan in the saddle, went second, while Minnie Hauk and Ryan Moore were third.
The favourite soon began to drift as she battled for the line, with Sparán Nua, in the Newton Anner Stud colours, staying on strongly to challenge the eventual winner, as Minnie Hauk didn’t have the pace to live with either of the main protagonists.
As they hit the finishing line, Kalpana had an advantage of a half-length over Sparán Nua, while the Aidan O’Brien-trained Minnie Hauk was two-and-a-half lengths behind the runner-up.
Earth Shot (20/1), Tattycoram (25/1) and Johanna Walsh, who had all been prominent in the earlier stages of the race, faded to finish fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
