'Alice' Wins Sun Chariot, BC Might Be Next

Coolmore and partners' Alice Springs fought off a determined Always Smile inside the final furlong and posted her third group I victory of the year in the Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes Oct. 1 at Newmarket.

The 13-8 favorite in the one-mile race for fillies and mares, Alice Springs won by three-quarters of a length in 1:37.46 on firm turf and could take on mighty mare Tepin in the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) next month at Santa Anita Park.  

Former French classic winner Ervedya was third, one length back in the field of eight in what is likely her final race. Smart Call, the highly touted 2016 J&B Met (SAf-I) winner, was discovered to be lame before the race and was scratched.

Arabian Queen set out for an all-the-way win but yielded as Ryan Moore and Alice Springs blew past over a furlong out while pursued by Godolphin Racing's Always Smile, who pressured her all the way to the finish line.  

"She picked up very well and she was just dozing a little bit when I got serious with her, but she found a bit more," Moore told England's Press Association.

Alice Springs was runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. IT) last year at Keeneland, and Moore pointed out the yielding ground was not ideal for her.

"Santa Anita will suit her, but Tepin will be hard to beat," he said of the U.S. reigning champion turf female currently on an eight-race win streak that includes last year's Breeders' Cup Mile.

A daughter of Galileo trained by Aidan O'Brien, Alice Springs won the Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron Stakes (Ire-I) Sept. 10 at Leopardstown and the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes (Eng-I) July 8 at Newmarket, those races bookending a lackluster eight in the Prix Rothschild (Fr-I) at Deauville July 31.

Bred in Ireland by Lynch-Bages and Longfield Stud from the Danehill Dancer mare Aleagueoftheirown, Alice Spring has a 5-2-4 career line from 15 starts.