Brave Anna Upsets Cheveley Park Stakes

Evelyn Stockwell's homebred Brave Anna upset five other juvenile fillies Sept. 24 in the £102,078 ($132,701) Connolly's Red Mills Cheveley Park Stakes (Eng-I) at Newmarket.

Brave Anna led a sweep of the top three placings by Kentucky-breds as she was followed home by Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Suan Magnier's Roly Poly and United States-trained Lady Aurelia in the six-furlong test. The top two finishers are both daughters of War Front   and both are trained by Aidan O'Brien.

By edging her stablemate by a short head, Brave Anna bounced back from a pair of sixth-place finishes in a group II and group I race going seven furlongs in her previous starts. The win marks the first group I score for Brave Anna, who was guided to the close victory by Seamie Heffernan.

Brave Anna completed Saturday's race in 1:11.92 on good to firm turf to score at 25-1. She is a full sister to last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. I) winner Hit It a Bomb.

Group III winner Roly Poly earned her first group I placing in the Cheveley Park.

Lady Aurelia, campaigned by George Bolton, Peter Leidel, and her breeder Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, finished third as the 4-6 favorite for trainer Wesley Ward. The daughter of Scat Daddy previously won this year's Queen Mary Stakes (Eng-II) at Royal Ascot and entered off a win in the Darley Prix Morny (Fr-I) at Deauville.