Horse Racing: Alpinista won the Darley Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday, extending her incredible unbeaten streak to seven races and earning her fifth consecutive Group One victory.
After winning the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud last month, the five-year-old was given the odds of 7/4 going into just her second race of the year. However, under the guidance of Luke Morris, she once again displayed tremendous heart to hold off Aidan O’Brien’s Oaks winner Tuesday (7/2).
The 4/1 shot for Paddy Twomey As the elegant field of seven runners accelerated for their sprint to the finish line, La Petite Coco was the first to the lead and served it up to Alpinista on her outside.
Tuesday’s race saw Ryan Moore join the other two to form a line of three at the halfway point, with Jessica Harrington’s Irish Oaks champion Magical Lagoon unable to keep up with them.
Alpinista can now add another checkmark to her list as she prepares for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Paris-Longchamp in October, where she is now tied for sixth place at 6/1 with Baaeed, the Juddmonte winner and current titleholder from Japan.
“They [Group Ones] are all great, but they are hard to come by. For a smallish stable, every five or six years you get good ones come along and it’s tremendous when it happens,” said Prescott. “We trained this one’s dam, grand-dam and great grand-dam. It’s been a marvellous family.
