Group I racing at Epsom overnight with the Epsom Oaks (1m4f) and Coronation Cup (1m4f) for the older horses and the victors were Aga Khan homebred filly Ezeliya and the Coolmore raider Luxembourg.
Trained by Dermot Weld and ridden by Chris Hayes, Ezeliya won the Group III Salsabil Stakes with authority in her seasonal return and the daughter of Dubawi showed her staying dominance at Epsom powering away to win by three lengths over the Godolphin entry Dance Sequence (Dubawi).
“This is a progressive filly. I was pretty sure Ezeliya would stay, and she also has pace. She's from a great staying family of the Aga Khan's - the family of the Queen's Gold Cup winner Estimate, who is a close relative - so that was why I was confident she'd stay,” said Dermot Weld.
“We'll see how she comes out of the race. She's not a big filly, and Classics always take something out of a horse, so we'll review it. She is in the Irish Oaks, but we'll decide whether we give her time off for an autumn campaign which may involve the Arc.”
Ezeliya is the second winner and first stakes-winner for multiple Group winning Teofilo mare Eziyra, who was also placed in both the Group I Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks. Her stakes-placed grand-dam Eytarna is a sibling to three Group I winning stayers Enzeli and Estimate, who both won the Royal Ascot Gold Cup and Ebadiyla, who won the Irish Oaks.
With three wins from four starts, Ezeliya is the 59th Group I winner for Dubawi and is his first Epsom Classic winner. She is also the 7th Group I winner for Teofilo as a broodmare sire, the nick also producing dual Group I winning 3YO Coroebus.
The Group I Coronation Cup saw race favourite Emily Upjohn finish out of the placings while well travelled Camelot stallion Luxembourg led all the way for Ryan Moore and was never challenged seriously to win by a length over Hamish (Motivator) for Tom Marquand and William Haggas.
Luxembourg was narrowly beaten at Sha Tin in the Hong Kong International Cup last year by Romantic Warrior and then didn’t fire when sent to Dubai, but was clearly back on track here taking his overall record to seven wins and four placings from 16 starts.
“We ran Luxembourg a little bit short through the winter - a mile and a half is probably the trip he loves, though he has good form over a mile and a quarter too. The better the ground the better he'll be, so we think he'll hopefully be a King George horse,” said Aidan O’Brien.
“We didn't really travel him until late last year, but we're now able to take him abroad too as he loves fast ground and handles the journey well. Hopefully he'll have a lot of good races ahead.”
Luxembourg was bought by MV Magnier for 150,000 guineas at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Yearling Sale and was bred by Ben Sangster. He is a sibling to Group II winner Leo de Fury and Group III placed Hiawatha and Sense of Style being the best of five winners from Danehill Dancer mare Attire, a sister to Group III winner Forgotten Voice and half-sister to stakes-winner Australie.
Luxembourg has been a Group I winner at two, three four and now five!
