Love runs away with Oaks at Epsom

The sensational 3-year-old filly Love has developed a passion for winning big races.

A month after she ran off with the English 2000 Guineas, Love put in an even better performance in the Oaks on Saturday at Epsom.

You could’ve put a ring around Love with nearly a quarter-mile still left to race as she kissed seven rivals goodbye, drawing away to a nine-length score over Ennistymon. It was a one-two finish for trainer Aidan O’Brien, as the John Gosden-trained Frankly Darling, the strong second choice, could not come close to matching Love’s power.

Love, the first Guineas-Oaks winner since the O’Brien-trained Minding in 2016, clocked 2:34.06 for the 1 1/2 miles over good going, besting Enable’s stakes record. The Derby two races later was won in a time of 2:34.43.

Love won three times from seven starts as a very good 2-year-old, but deepened her affection for racing during the break between fall 2019 and late spring 2020. The one-mile Guineas fell short of her best distance, O’Brien believed, yet Love prevailed by 4 ½ lengths.

Saturday, she waited patiently near the tail of the field under Ryan Moore, as pacemakers for O’Brien and Gosden went off at a fast clip while drawing far clear of the other six fillies. Ennistymon moved first, coming through along the inside with about a half-mile remaining and closing on the lead pair as Love began her run three paths off the rail going round famed Tattenham corner and into the long homestretch. As Ennistymon made the front with just less than 400 meters to go, Love already had engaged her and was moving into the clear. Love drifted left after making the lead, but once she found the fence, she straightened her stride, finishing off her first test beyond one mile still going strong.

"She wasn't stopping at all,” said Moore. “She actually got down to the rail and picked up again. She was very impressive. She is very good – very, very good.”

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Love, by Galileo out of Pikabo, by Pivotal, now has five wins from nine starts with Group 1 wins in the Guineas, the Oaks, and the Moyglare Stud Stakes. Owned by Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith, Love, if she continues along this trajectory, could have the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as a late-season date. In the nearer term, she could stick closer to home and start in the Irish Oaks, a race in which she’d be overwhelmingly favored.

“Love is very special,” O’Brien said. “It is hard to say you would ever have a filly better than her.”