Alice Springs wins Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes
Alice Springs registered her second straight Group 1 victory and took another step toward a start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile when she won the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket.
Tracking in fourth under Ryan Moore for the first five furlongs of the straight-course mile for older fillies and mares, Alice Springs was pulled out for her challenge full of run and looked like she would win easily. But the pace-pressing Always Smile stayed on gamely to her inside, Alice Springs finally forging clear in the final half-furlong, with Moore suggesting his filly had idled after coming alongside Always Smile.
Ervedya finished another length back in third, and her trainer, Jean-Claude Rouget, said the 4-year-old Aga Khan filly would be retired to broodmare duties. Ervedya won half of her 14 starts and is a multiple Group 1 winner.
Trained by Aidan O’Brien, the 3-year-old Alice Springs finished a good second to Catch a Glimpse in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last fall at Keeneland, and she probably will be better suited to the firmer Santa Anita course if, as expected, she travels to California for the BC Mile.
By Galileo and out of the Danehill Dancer mare Aleaugeoftheirown, Alice Springs was making her eighth start this year, but she has taken all her racing well and is a better filly now than in the spring, when she raced in the shadow of her stablemate Minding. Alice Springs won the Group 1 Matron Stakes in Ireland in her most recent start and earlier in the year captured the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes, also at Newmarket.
• At Chantilly, Quest for More upset the favored Vaziribad in the Group 1 Prix du Cadran over more than 2 1/2 miles on good going. George Baker rode the winner for trainer Roger Charlton.