Back
3 May 2015

Legatissimo wins QIPCO 1000 Guineas under Moore

Legatissimo wins the QIPCO 1000 Guineas under Ryan Moore. Image courtesy of Racingfotos.com

Ryan Moore, who had won the QIPCO 2000 Guineas aboard Gleneagles the previous day, got a fine tune from Legatissimo as she overhauled 9/2 favourite Lucida close home to win the QIPCO 1000 Guineas by three-quarters of a length. Tiggy Wiggy – who boasted strong juvenile form as a sprinter but was trying a mile for the first time– ran well to finish third, coming home four and a half lengths behind the principals, with Malabar filling the frame in fourth. 

Legatissimo had been beaten on her seasonal reappearance at Leopardstown three weeks ago, but she displayed much-improved form to win a listed event at Gowran Park just seven days ago, and upped her game further to win the first fillies’ classic of the season. It looked as if Legatissimo had plenty of work to do entering the final furlong as Lucida surged a couple of lengths clear, but Moore didn’t panic, delivering a power-packed drive to prevail. The winning rider said: "they went a good gallop and she settled well. I found a good rhythm and she stayed on well. I think she’ll get further".

Legatissimo’s performance in narrowly beating Lucida, with a gap back to the rest of the field, is likely to earn her a Timeform rating in the mid-to-high-110s. For comparison, last season’s QIPCO 1000 Guineas winner Miss France was rated 112, while Finsceal Beo, one of the better winners of recent times, was rated 123. 

The powerful manner in which Legatissimo finished, allied to the fact that she has already won over an extended nine furlongs and is bred to be effective over longer trips, suggests that she will be a leading player in the Investec Oaks, which is set to be run at Epsom on Friday 5th June.

Legatissimo now trades at a top price of 5/1 for the Epsom classic,  heading the market alongside Found, who runs in the same Michael Tabor silks. The last horse to do the Guineas-Oaks double was Kazzia in 2002, though Blue Bunting followed up her Guineas win with success in the Irish Oaks in 2011.