Snowfall dominant in winning Yorkshire Oaks, establishing her as Arc favorite

The Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday at York Racecourse in England was a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” race offering the winner automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar.

The connections of the 3-year-old filly who won the Yorkshire Oaks have far grander plans than that race.

Snowfall’s star already shone bright before her performance Thursday, but now she is glowing as brightly as anything in the racing universe.

Following a 16-length win in the Oaks at Epsom and an 8 1/2-length thrashing of her nearest pursuer in the Irish Oaks, Snowfall stepped up to face older rivals for the first time on Thursday and made quick work of them.

Getting nine pounds from the older fillies in the 1 1/2-mile Yorkshire Oaks, Snowfall won like level weights would have been just fine with her.

Ryan Moore sat chilly on Snowfall near the back of the field as her stablemates La Joconde and Divinely raced along first and second, ensuring an honest tempo. The field having turned left-handed into York’s long home-straight, and with a little more than three furlongs to run, Moore allowed Snowfall to come out of her tracking pace and shift into a middle gear. The result was immediate and devastating. In a matter of strides, Snowfall gained five to seven lengths and had jumped on the leaders. The race was over with a quarter mile to run. Snowfall, just churning alone, no rival within striking distance, crossed the line four lengths better than runner-up Albaflora.

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Snowfall’s acceleration led Moore to tell overseas racing media that the filly had given him at least as good a feel during the race as any horse he’d ever ridden during a long, ridiculously successful career.

And to read many of trainer Aidan O’Brien’s post-race quotes, the best might be yet to come from Snowfall. O’Brien said looking at his filly before the race he saw a horse carrying plenty of weight for a demanding fall campaign. Snowfall, O’Brien suggested, was racing mainly on talent in the spring and early summer, but now she is turning into a professional racehorse.

At this stage, the Breeders’ Cup race worthy of her talent would be the Turf, and with 3-year-old filly Santa Barbara, smashing winner of the Beverly D. on Aug. 14 at Arlington and a possible runner in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, also in his yard, O’Brien could have a extremely strong hand to play at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.

There’s no assurance Snowfall comes for that race. Her clear target is the Arc, for which she now is solidly favored over 3-year-old colt Adayar, the English Derby winner who has proven himself against older foes now. Whether Snowfall runs again before the Arc has yet to be determined; if she did, either the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp or the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown would be the spot.

Snowfall raced effectively over good turf Thursday but handles all course conditions, dividing her from Love, who won the 2020 Yorkshire Oaks so impressively for these same connections, but whose fall campaign was undone by wet weather.

Bred in Japan, Snowfall is by the Japanese stallion Deep Impact and out of the Galileo mare Best In The World. Best In The World is a sister to Found, who upset Golden Horn in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland.