Alexandrova cruises to win

Alexandrova added to her reputation as the best 3-year-old filly in Europe with an easy victory in the $520,000 Yorkshire Oaks at York on Wednesday.

Running against older fillies and mares for the first time, Alexandrova, a daughter of Sadler's Wells, added to handy scores in both the English and Irish Oaks for her third consecutive Group 1 triumph at 1 1/2 miles. Despite missing the break under jockey Michael Kinane and trailing to the quarter pole, she picked off her five rivals one by one to lead at the three-sixteenths pole, and went on to defeat the pacesetting Short Skirt by 3 1/2 lengths, with Allegretto another three-quarters of a length behind in third. The odds-on Alexandrova was timed in 2:32.41 on good to soft ground.

Trained by Aidan O'Brien, Alexandrova is likely to be pointed for the 1 1/4-mile Prix de l'Opera on the Oct. 1 Arc de Triomphe card, when she could meet five-time Group 1 winner Alexander Goldrun.