Mother Earth surges to English 1000 Guineas triumph
Mother Earth won only once in eight starts at age 2 but landed the English 1000 Guineas in her 3-year-old debut Sunday at Newmarket.
Racing for the first time since a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last fall at Keeneland, Mother Earth and Frankie Dettori made a sustained bid from the rear of an 11-horse field, powering through “the dip,” the famed undulation in the final furlong of the straight-mile course at Newmarket, and coming through the uphill finish full of run for a 1 1/2-length victory over Saffron Beach.
Mother Earth was a 10-1 chance overseas, a much longer price than Santa Barbara, her favored Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemate. Making only her second start while racing for the first time since September, the 5-2 favorite pulled more than she should have, raced greenly, and finished fourth. Fev Rover, racing prominently from the start, finished third.
This Guineas was contested on good to firm ground and produced a solid clocking of 1:36.37.
O’Brien doesn’t mind giving capable 2-year-olds long campaigns and Mother Earth, despite her busy 2020 schedule, clearly has moved forward at age 3. She’s a daughter of Zoffany and Many Colours, by Green Desert, and O’Brien in post-race comments said Mother Earth would head for the Irish 1000 Guineas over one mile while Santa Barbara was bound for the 1 1/2-mile Oaks at Epsom Downs.
***Mare Australis wires Ganay
Mare Australis and jockey Pierre Charles-Boudot bounced to the lead and bounded to the finish, scoring a front-running victory Sunday at Longchamp in the Group 1 Prix Ganay. Second to Skaletti in his 2021 debut, 4-year-old Mare Australis has raced sparingly if effectively for trainer Andre Fabre and his German owners, and Fabre deemed him a legitimate hope for the 2021 Prix de l’Arc de Triumph over 1 1/2 miles, a distance at which Mare Australis won his lone start. On Sunday, going 1 5/16 miles, Mare Australis maintained a comfortable advantage and quickened nicely to easily hold clear runner-up Gold Trip. Mogul, the Aidan O’Brien-trained ship-in favorite, never looked like he’d win and managed third.
Mare Australis is by Australia out of Miramare, by Rainbow Quest.
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