King George heroine Kalpana just held on to land the Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks at York after a mighty scare from Sparan Nua.
Aidan O’Brien’s outsider Sugar Island was immediately sent to the front and Ronan Whelan quickly distanced himself from the field, extending the advantage to 20 lengths turning for home.
But as the main players began to eat into that lead, Colin Keane sent Kalpana to give chase over three furlongs out, hitting top gear two furlongs from home, only for Jim Bolger’s Sparan Nua – who got a little squeezed at one stage – to make up plenty of ground and close the gap.
The line just came in time for the 10-11 favourite to hold on by a short head, giving Keane, Andrew Balding and owners Juddmonte a second Group One in the space of 24 hours, after Item had landed the showpiece Juddmonte International on Wednesday.
“You knew after going a couple of furlongs it was going to be messy and passing the three (furlong marker) I thought the pacemaker was gone,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon.
“Colin had to commit probably a bit sooner than he wanted. When he saw himself the pacemaker was gone he had to chase her down a little bit, so she was always going to be vulnerable to something closing late, but she’s gutsy and knows where the line is.
“She put her head down and got the job done. It’s not pretty, but she got the job done and that’s the main thing.
“Fast ground, slow ground, 12 furlongs – you wouldn’t even be afraid to drop her back to 10. She’s just very versatile and the ultimate pro now. She’s fully matured now at five years of age and keeps answering all the questions, so it’s wonderful.”
Connections must now consider how to split their aces, with either Kalpana or Item likely to get a shot at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Should Item be given the green light to head for ParisLongchamp, Kalpana – who finished seventh in last year’s Arc – will almost certainly bid to win the Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot later in October.
Mahon added: “We have the horse from yesterday too, so whether he’ll go to the Arc and we wait for Ascot with this filly – we have to sit down in a week or two and discuss all that, but it’s a nice problem to have.
“The horse from yesterday has joined the fray, so we’ll decide all those sort of things in the next couple of weeks with the owners and see what they want to do.
“Item is definitely a top of the ground horse. He got away with the good to soft here yesterday. Funnily enough Colin actually said this filly doesn’t enjoy the softer ground as much as she did last year, he said she felt like she enjoyed the faster ground in Ascot more the last time than she did today.
“I wouldn’t have thought we’d run both in the Arc. Again that will be the owners’ decision, but it wouldn’t be my first preference.
“I suppose with Item being a colt, if the ground comes up good he’d probably have the preference, and with this filly Ascot was always the target, so it would make sense to sidestep the Arc if the ground is good – but that’s a big ‘if’.
“She probably will retire at the end of the year. Whether she’ll finish at Ascot or if she doesn’t go to the Arc whether she’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup – there’s a lot of variables to work out.”