Aidan O’Brien hopes Sun Goddess can continue to shine in latest Group One target
Pleasant surprises are no more frequent in racing as anywhere else, but Sun Goddess will try to continue delivering when lining up for Newmarket’s Tattersalls Cheveley Park Stakes on Saturday. The filly who began her career in May as a narrowly beaten second string, and failed to score at Royal Ascot , has ultimately flowered into one of the stars of the season. Aidan O’Brien’s sole Group One winner in August subsequently made overcoming serious interference look like child’s play in a valuable sales contest at York before stepping up into elite level in the Moyglare this month. That almost seven-length rout had O’Brien reaching for the F word – “freakish” – and Sun Goddess might have to live up to such billing if she’s to land a third Group One of the campaign. The Prix Morny winner Senorita Bonita as well as Sun Goddess’ Ascot conqueror Libertango help make up a mouth-watering field for the Cheveley Park in which Joseph O’Brien’s Alwaysanangel also lines up. Maybe it’s that she was bought at auction for a relatively modest £120,000 (€140,000) or how she keeps stepping up her level of performance, but Sun Goddess appears to have caught the racing public’s imagination. Her Coolmore connections have fancier bred and more expensive types in their gigantic juvenile team, but this filly has proven to be the real deal. That resounding Moyglare success came at the Irish Champions Festival (ICF) where Aidan O’Brien revealed how his Ballydoyle have been coping with a low-grade infection for some months. His runners have subsequently been keenly watched and there have been a couple of winners from 21 runners since the ICF. O’Brien’s two runners in Saturday’s big colts’ race, the Middle Park, have a rather second division feel to them and the apparent No 1, Marco Polo, missed an engagement last Monday due to being off his feed. In such circumstances, Sun Goddess, who features in the earlier Cheveley Park Stakes, has proven notably reliable. O’Brien’s record six Cheveley Park winners include Lake Victoria two years ago who made light of dropping back in distance from the Moyglare. Four of the seven Middle Park runners are still based in Ireland, with Robson De Aguiar’s supplemented Force Noir joined, too, by Michael O’Callaghan’s unbeaten Push The Boat Out. The Co Kildare -based trainer has yet to win at the highest level in his 16-year career, but Push The Boat Out looks to hold leading claims in what will be his first start for new owners, Ace Stud.