By Tom Frary
Making it third time lucky at Leopardstown on Thursday, Ballydoyle's So Lovely (Wootton Bassett) provided her illustrious dam Love (Galileo) with her first winner.
Second over a mile here on debut and over this seven-furlong trip at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, the 2-5 favourite who shares a similar profile to her multiple Group 1 and dual Classic-winning dam was sent to the front three out by Wayne Lordan. Kicking off the bend, the homebred stayed on strongly for a 1 1/2-length success from the newcomer Zenith Blaze (Kingman), Juddmonte's first runner from the Joseph O'Brien stable.
In a race hosting potential several smart prospects, there was another 1 1/4 lengths back to the third-place dead-heaters Isle Of Capri (Wootton Bassett), a Donnacha O'Brien trainee who was another behind Alpha at the Curragh, and the Ger Lyons-trained Villaray (Showcasing).
“She's a filly that's crying out for a mile,” stable representative Chris Armstrong said. “Just the way the programme presented, we thought we'd bring her here and Aidan thought she'd be very hard to beat. The plan is to step her up to a mile. She could be a very high-class filly going forward. Come the end of the year, she could be a filly for something like the Fillies Mile or the Boussac.”
Wootton Bassett x Love
The regally-bred So Lovely opens her account under @waynemnlordan in the opener at @LeopardstownRC pic.twitter.com/zZIapgjwzs
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 20, 2026
Love, who also broke her maiden at the third attempt here before going on to glory five times at the highest level including in the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks, is kin to the Lowther and Cherry Hinton Stakes winner Lucky Kristale (Lucky Story) and Galileo's Group 3 winners Peach Tree and Flattering. Lucky Kristale has produced the Prix Niel-placed Bravais (Frankel) while her full-siblings are responsible for the Group and Graded-Stakes-placed Serenity Prayer (Dubawi) and Clever Again (American Pharoah).
Also connected to the Group winners Arabian Gleam (Kyllachy), Pogo (Zebedee) and Noble Champion (Lope De Vega) and the Japanese heavyweights Sol Oriens (Kitasan Black) and Vin De Garde (Deep Impact), she has visited Justify in each of the last three years, with a yearling filly produced so far.
1st-Leopardstown, €22,000, Mdn, 8-20, 2yo, f, 7fT, 1:27.35, g/f.
SO LOVELY (f, 2, Wootton Bassett {GB}–Love {Ire} {MG1SW-Eng, G1SW-Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) Lifetime Record: 3-1-2-0, $39,569. O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier & Michael Tabor; B-Orpendale/Chelston/Wynatt (KY); T-Aidan O'Brien.
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