Pleascach upsets Covert Love in Yorkshire Oaks

A week of upsets in Group 1 races continued at York Racecourse in England on Thursday when Pleascach (8-1) outran 15-8 favorite Covert Love to win the $522,600 Yorkshire Oaks for fillies and mares.

Pleascach, ridden by Kevin Manning, finished a neck in front of Covert Love, who had a four-race winning streak end in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks at 1 1/2 miles on turf. Sea Calisi, a 7-1 shot, finished third in the field of 11. Covert Love led in the final furlong, but could not hold off Pleascach.

The win came a day after Arabian Queen scored an upset win over Golden Horn in the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes.

With Thursday’s win, Pleascach earns a fees-paid berth for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31. The Yorkshire Oaks was open to fillies and mares.

Pleascach won the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas in May but lost her next two starts – a second in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Sakes at Royal Ascot and a fifth in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh in Ireland on June 28.

By Teofilo, Pleascach is owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by Jim Bolger. The filly has won four of eight starts in her career.

* Finnegan, a maiden race winner at Pimlico in May, is part of a field of nine in Saturday’s Grade 2 Gimcrack Stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings on the final day of York’s week-long meeting.

A son of Unbridled's Song trained by Wesley Ward, Finnegan will be ridden by Edgar Prado. The $339,445 Gimcrack Stakes is run at six furlongs.

The field includes a Royal Ascot winner in Buratino, who won the Group 2 Coventry Stakes on June 16, and Ajaya, a maiden race winner at York on July 10 who was second in the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin at Maisons-Laffitte in France on July 26.