Love Shows Plenty of Heart to Land Moyglare Stud

A ninth Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1). A sixth winner of the weekend. A third group 1 over the two days. One Aidan O'Brien.

The greatest sportsmen do it on the big days, when it really matters. These two days are as big as it gets in Irish racing and O'Brien has managed to produce his team in peak condition for the occasion at the Curragh. That tells you all you need to know about him.

Love followed in the footsteps of star fillies like Misty for Me (2010), Maybe (2011), and Minding (2015) and even earned rave reviews from her trainer.

"She is a queen," said O'Brien after Love dug deep to deny Daahyeh, winner of the Albany Stakes (G3) at Royal Ascot, in the seven-furlong test for 2-year-old fillies.

"She's genuine, has a beautiful pedigree, and stays very well. She has a beautiful action and when Ryan (Moore) asked her to get down and lengthen she stuck her head out. She's been working lovely and progressing with every run."

The Moyglare Stud Stakes is a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" challenge race, awarding Love an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).

Love might well have been favored for this had she not fluffed her lines in the Debutante Stakes (G2). Only fifth of nine in that, she was allowed to go off at 6-1 here but regained her reputation with a tough performance that prompted Betfair Sportsbook and Ladbrokes to give her a quote of 16-1 for the 2020 QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1).

"We thought she was a filly that would be crying out for a mile this year, and we were trying to keep her at seven for as long as we could with the view to coming here and then maybe finishing off in the Fillies' Mile (G1) and being a classic filly next year," O'Brien said. "That family all get a mile and a half well at 3, so it's very exciting for her. The ground was probably a bit soft for her last time."

Tango, backed from a morning price of 28-1 all the way to 9-1 at the start, set the early pace in what was a change of tactics for the No Nay Never filly but she dropped away tamely when the going got tough and it was left to Love to break the hearts of her eight rivals.

The last filly to complete the Moyglare-One Thousand Guineas double was Minding in 2016.