Newmarket - 26th September
“Whether she travels to the US or is put away for the winter, Sun Goddess will end her 2-year-old campaign as the best 2-year-old filly in Europe after this performance in the Cheveley Park”.
At this stage of the season, I can’t be sure who Aidan O’Brien’s best 2-year-old colt is. Both Haffner and Noble Exhibit were very impressive in their respective victories at Newmarket and the Curragh on Saturday, but there are several others with equally good claims. The same cannot be said for the fillies however, as SUN GODDESS confirmed her place at the top of the Ballydoyle pecking order, if not the whole of Europe with a breathtaking display in the Cheveley Park Stakes. This performance was every bit as impressive as a track record time of 1:09.08 would have you believe at first glance and given that it came despite the fact that she appeared to be slightly awkward at the bottom of the dip, there is even a possibility that she may yet be capable of even more. This was a 5th win in a row for the daughter of Sioux Nation and a 6th in 8 career starts, readily reversing the form with Libertango from the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot in the process.
This was a track record and as a result Sun Goddess has of course recorded the fastest average speed figure across the 2 courses at Newmarket over the 6 furlong trip in the last 5 years, but it is also worth noting that Libertango, Alwaysanangel and Moonrise were in the top 5. As we saw on Friday afternoon with the time recorded by Talk of New York to win the Joel Stakes, the track at Newmarket is in the ideal condition for a track record time, but this performance was about far more than just a fast performance on the clock.
Sun Goddess needed to be shaken along at times by Ryan Moore and clearly felt the need to adjust her feet as she reached the bottom of the dip, but once she hit the rising ground, she proved herself to be in a different league to her 5 rivals and pulled readily away to win by a length. A race best late speed figure of 39.35 mph was nearly 2 mph faster than Orthodox in the Middle Park Stakes 33 minutes later and is a remarkable figure from a long striding filly, whose stride reached an impressive peak average of 27.41 ft on the Rowley Mile. With an overall race average stride length figure of 26.12 ft, she had the longest reach in the field and that stride length figure came in more than 2 ft longer than the TPD expected average figure for a winner of this race. Sun Goddess has already won the Moyglare Stud Stakes over 7 furlongs and will clearly stay further, but for such a big filly to have the versatility to drop back to 6 furlongs is truly remarkable, especially at this pace. Both Libertango and Señorita Bonita have shown themselves to be fast fillies and yet neither of them were able to repel the finishing kick that Sun Goddess found once she changed her legs and climbed the hill.
She is now as short as 6/4 for next year’s 1,000 Guineas. That’s a short price to sit on for 7 months and there have been one or two short-priced horses from Ballydoyle in recent years who haven’t gone on to win the Guineas when their 2-year-old form suggested that they ought to. However, Sun Goddess has done little wrong in her 2-year-old career, despite the fact that her size and scope don’t necessarily fit the mold of a typical Group 1 winning filly. She has ticked all of the data boxes with this performance and would appear to be a class above most if not all of the other fillies in the division this year. It will be interesting to see if she is put on the plane to the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland next month, but whether she travels to the US or is put away for the winter, Sun Goddess will end her 2-year-old campaign as the best 2-year-old filly in Europe after this performance in the Cheveley Park.