Aidan O’Brien could allow Lake Victoria to bid for back-to-back Group One victories in the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday, after confirming Royal Ascot heroine Fairy Godmother will not run again this season.
Lake Victoria maintained her unbeaten record in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh and has the option of dropping back in trip from seven to six furlongs just a fortnight later on the Rowley Mile.
Fairy Godmother, not seen since her brilliant victory in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, had previously been identified as the likely Ballydoyle representative this weekend, but she has now been put away for the winter.
Bookmakers make the pair their 5-1 joint-favourites for next year’s 1000 Guineas.
“Fairy Godmother is finished for the season, we just decided to leave her off for the rest of the year,” O’Brien told the PA news agency on Monday.
“As for Lake Victoria, we were thinking we might bring her back to six furlongs for this going to the Moyglare.”
Lake Victoria is among 14 fillies in the mix for the Cheveley Park Stakes, with O’Brien also confirming Bubbling, Heavens Gate, Merrily and Truly Enchanting.
The likely favourite is the Ger Lyons-trained Babouche, who has carried the Juddmonte colours to a hat-trick of wins including a Group One victory over the O’Brien-trained Whistlejacket in the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.
Francis-Henri Graffard has supplemented the runaway Chantilly winner Rayevka and Ed Walker is set to saddle his Lowther Stakes winner Celandine.
O’Brien dominates the entries for the Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes, with the Ballydoyle handler responsible for 10 of 18 remaining contenders. Acapulco Bay is the shortest priced.
Charlie Fellowes will justifiably have high hopes for his Ascendant Stakes winner Luther in the one-mile Group Two, while Ralph Beckett’s Convivial Maiden scorer Angelo Buonarroti is another horse worthy of respect in what promises to be an informative event.