Sea Of Class looks sensational in Yorkshire Oaks victory

If Alpha Centauri is the most exciting 3-year-old filly in Europe, Sea Of Class is second by a scant nose.

Ridden from the back of the pack by James Doyle like there was no way she could lose, Sea Of Class made short work Thursday at York Racecourse of seven foes, winning the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks by 2 1/4 lengths over Coronet.

After losing her career debut in April by a neck, Sea Of Class has won four in a row. She captured the Group 1 Irish Oaks last out in her group-stakes debut and proved an even more definitive winner Thursday.

Sea Of Class’s lone loss came over one mile, and she has easily stayed 1 1/2 miles in her last two races. That means there’s no prospective matchup with fellow sophomore sensation Alpha Centauri, who is an elite miler and will make her next start in the Matron Stakes in Ireland.

Sea Of Class’s connections, trainer William Haggas and owner Sunderland Holdings, likely have their eye on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe after Thursday’s sensational success. Enable also raced in the Yorkshire Oaks on her way to victory last year in the Arc. Sea Of Class isn’t yet nominated to the Arc, but Haggas suggested Thursday that an entry into the race was likely.

The Yorkshire Oaks is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge program, and Sea Of Class, who is Breeders’ Cup-eligible, earned a fees-paid entry into the BC Filly and Mare Turf, plus travel expenses to Churchill Downs, should her connections take that route this fall.

Sea Of Class, by Sea The Stars and out of the Hernando mare Holy Moon, doesn’t have an instant turn of foot, and she is not an electric mover, but she relaxes beautifully for Doyle and on Thursday picked up the toiling front-runners three furlongs from the finish without being asked.

Called on a quarter-mile out, Sea Of Class surged to the front without ever appearing to be asked for her very best and was on cruise control very late as Coronet surged to earn the place. Coronet, a 4-year-old, gave nine pounds to the winner and was a length better than third-place Eziyra. Laurens, a Group 1 winner in France, failed to stay 1 1/2 miles, fading to sixth. The winning time over good-to-firm going was 2:30.44.

Lah Ti Dar aces comeback

Lah Ti Dar, another 3-year-old filly, and at one point the early favorite for this year’s Epsom Oaks, returned from a 2 1/2-month layoff to capture the listed Sir Henry Cecil Galtres Stakes by 10 lengths, one race after the Yorkshire Oaks.

Bursting to the lead with more than a quarter-mile to run, Lah Ti Dar and Frankie Dettori opened a huge advantage before coasting home easy winners. Lah Ti Dar was timed in 2:31.22, 0.78 seconds slower than Sea Of Class, for her 1 1/2 miles.

Trained by John Gosden for Andrew Lloyd-Weber, Lah Ti Dar is a daughter of Dubawi and the multiple Group 1 winner Dar Re Mi, and all being well, she seems certain to make her group-stakes debut in her next start.