Horse Racing
‘Exciting’ Sun Goddess looks the part in Phoenix Stakes
Sun Goddess came from last to first to provide Aidan O’Brien with his 18th win in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.
Johannesburg (2001), George Washington (2005), Holy Roman Emperor (2006) and Caravaggio (2016) are just a few of the big names to have won this Group One prize over the years and Sun Goddess was the 5-4 favourite to add to that tally under Ryan Moore.
The daughter of Sioux Nation – who also won this race for the same connections in 2017 – had won each of her two previous starts over the course and distance, including a Group Two on her latest outing, with a runner-up finish behind George Boughey’s Libertango in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot sandwiched in between.
With stablemate Carry The Flag setting a furious early pace, Moore was content to bide his time aboard Sun Goddess, but she came through stylishly on the far side of the track racing inside the final two furlongs and was well on top as she passed the post a length and a quarter clear of Folsom Blues.
O’Brien said: “She’s a beautiful filly. She ran well at Naas the first day then came back here to win her maiden and then she went to Ascot probably a little under par with the benefit of hindsight.
“Then she came back here a week after and won even though she was in Ascot the week before. She’s obviously very special and everything went really well since Ascot.”
He added: “She has a lot of gears and a very high cruising pace. Ryan said they went fast and he just said when he started to ask her she motored clear. He said she’ll have no problem getting seven furlongs. She’s very exciting.”
