Aidan O’Brien saddles another 1000 Guineas winner as Love reigns supreme

Aidan O’Brien saddled his fourth 1000 Guineas winner in five years and in the process picked up his sixth English Classic after Love, under Ryan Moore, came home a convincing winner at Newmarket on Saturday.

Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed Obaid’s Cloak Of Spirits was runner up ahead of Quadrilateral and Godolphin’s Final Song as the first four in the race finished clear from the rest of the 15-runner field over the mile trip.

The Richard Hannon-trained Cloak Of Spirits, with Andrea Atzeni in the saddle, stayed on strongly but was four and-a-half lengths behind the winner at the finishing line.

Saeed bin Suroor’s Final Song ran a cracker to finish a creditable fourth after racing prominently throughout the race with Pat Cosgrave atop.

Moore had Love handily placed after jumping out of gate 14 on the straight mile before sending her to the lead a furlong from home.

“She’s a very uncomplicated filly, we’ve always thought a lot of her,” Moore said. “She won the Moyglare last year and we kind of expected her to win the Fillies Mile. It was a bit soft that day, maybe.

“She’s a typical Galileo filly. If it wasn’t for her last run, last year, you’d have been pretty confident that she was the one to beat today and she was in control of the race from a long way out. She won as she liked, really.”

The result took Love’s record to four wins in eight starts and the O’Brien filly is now likely to head for the Epsom Oaks on July 4.

“I'd say it's a possibility that she'd stay,” Moore said when asked of her chances in the Oaks.

“At the moment she looks the best three-year-old filly around. I don't know what the plan is but I'd say the Oaks is an option for her.”

O’Brien, who has been dominating the fillies classic in recent times, was obviously delighted.

“She was doing everything right all through the winter and the spring,” the Irishman said.

“She’s a lovely filly. We always thought she would get much further than a mile. She showed she got a mile last year and we always thought we’d start here and then maybe go on to the Oaks and I think that’s what the lads were thinking about doing. She was well and that was her target all the time.”

Godolphin, meanwhile, racked up a double at the meeting with two-year-old Modern News making a wining racecourse debut in the opener and three-year-old Western Charmer successful in the third race.

The royal blues also picked up two more winners on the day. Space Blues was victorious at Haydock Park and Summer House was successful at Lingfield Park, taking the Dubai racing operation’s tally to 243 winners for the year worldwide, including six Group 1 prizes.