Estrange untroubled in defence of Lester Piggott crown

Estrange looked a class apart on paper ahead of her defence of the Betway Lester Piggott Fillies’ Stakes at Carlisle and so it proved on the track itself.

David O’Meara’s grey mare was due to run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the autumn, but was ruled out of the race with a minor setback, after which she recovered to run at Ascot on Champions Day when second to Kalpana.

That form was head and shoulders above any of her rivals in this Group Three – rescheduled from its usual home of Haydock – and meant she was sent off the 8-11 favourite.

Like the class horse she is, though, she moved through the gears effortlessly and pulled a length and a half clear of Waardah, with subsequent quotes ranging from 20-1 to 33s for this year’s Arc.

O’Meara said: “I think physically she looks like she has improved from four to five. She looked bigger and rangier when she was walking around the paddock.

“You know Minnie Hauk (winner of the Yorkshire Oaks with Estrange second) is back for more this year, as is Kalpana, so we’ll need to have improved. But on that showing she has and it will put her in the mix.

“If you don’t bring your A game to these races you are not going to win, but she has not let us down.”

He went on: “October (Arc) is a long way off, but she’s in. She would be in the Lancashire Oaks and she could come back to 10 furlongs for the Pretty Polly in Ireland, but the Lancashire Oaks worked well for her last year.

“But the Pretty Polly would come under consideration, especially if the ground was slow over here.”

Estrange is owned by Cheveley Park Stud, whose managing director Chris Richardson said: “Look at her, she is hardly blowing. She doesn’t even look like she has had a run really.

“We will probably go to York for the Yorkshire Oaks again. She is in Ireland, too, but it is a question of where the rain is.

“That (Arc) is the dream, yes. She has done it very nicely and she has another year under her belt. She has done well physically and improved.”