Aidan O'Brien's leading contender for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October, Love, is said to be in the form of her life at home and has come out of the Yorkshire Oaks in great shape.
Love was always said to be a smart horse and even at juvenile level when finishing third on her final two year old start in the Group One bet365 Fillies Mile, but this season she has transformed into a world beater.
She made her seasonal debut in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and beat a superb field of runners by over four lengths.
From there O'Brien decided to step her up in trip for the Epsom Oaks and she revelled in the extra distance, beating a sound field by a devastating 9 lengths.
The Yorkshire Oaks was another test for the three year old and again she passed with flying colours, not seeing a rival all the way round and going clear towards the end of the race.
O’Brien said: “That was always the plan – to have the three runs, then the Arc and see whether we go to America (Breeders’ Cup) or not. That’s still the plan, and everything looks so far so good with her."
Love
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 20, 2020
🏇 Ten races
🥇 Six victories
✅ Four-time G1 winner
🏆 1000 Guineas
🏆 Oaks
🏆 Yorkshire Oaks
♥️ A superstar
Love is magnificent under Ryan Moore in the Darley Yorkshire Oaks to provide Aidan O'Brien with a fifth success in the G1 event @yorkracecourse @Ballydoyle pic.twitter.com/9rjCMDVtJO
Enable will be Love's main rival when the two meet in the ParisLongchamp feature and Frankie Dettori who will ride her nemesis has expressed his admiration for how good the O'Brien hose actually is.
The trainer added: “Frankie is a seriously experienced fella, and obviously it was nice to hear him saying that, and no one knows all the form lines in the races better than Frankie.
“Obviously the Arc is going to be a seriously competitive race. It’s a month from this weekend, so things have to fall right for everybody that’s going to compete in it and every horse, and then on the day it is going to be a seriously challenging race.
“But everything is well with her. We had it spaced out that there was a six-week gap from York to France – and that’s what we were very happy with.
“We got chance to give her a couple of easy weeks, and then her programme would start building up again, and she’s back into her programme already – she’s very fresh. She’s doing nice canters at the moment, which she has to do to keep her right, because she gets very well and fresh in herself.
“Wayne (Lordan) rides her in all her work and he’s very happy with her. It’s going to be interesting and it will just make the whole autumn very interesting really.”