By Tom Frary
Drawing on all his inherent toughness on Sunday, Ballydoyle's emerging middle-distance heavyweight Los Angeles defied Anmaat in a duel to the line in The Curragh's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. Merely hinting at what was to come with his comeback G2 Mooresbridge Stakes win, last year's G1 Irish Derby hero sat three lengths off the demanding pace before taking over two out. Responding to Ryan Moore's call to ward off the Shadwell runner, having been headed inside the final furlong, the 9-4 favourite carved out a half-length advantage at the line with Kalpana a length back in third.
On fast ground uncommon for this track at this time of year, the sensational time of 2:08.41 was the fastest by nearly two seconds in the history of the race since Shiva won in 2:10.20 in 1999, the first time the trip was changed to this 10 1/2 furlongs. The fact that a former St Leger winner in Continuous was sacrificed as a pacemaker speaks volumes about the regard in which the winner is held at Ballydoyle.
Aidan O'Brien revealed that the 4-year-old, who had played understudy to City Of Troy in 2024, is set for the season's prime tests now. “It was a very good race, they are very high-class horses and you can't miss a beat with those,” the trainer said after greeting his 11th winner of the race. “The plan was to come here and go to the Prince of Wales's and then either have a look at the King George or have a little rest and have an Arc trial and then the Arc.”
“When the pace is on in front of him he'll follow it and he'll fight. No horse likes a fight more than him,” he added. “He's an exciting horse going forward. As a physical he's massive. It's hard to believe how big and powerful he is until you stand beside him and he has an incredible mind, he's so relaxed. I'd say any race through the whole year is going to find it hard to stand up to the ratings of all these horses. When all these are added up it's going to be an incredibly high rating band.”
LOS ANGELES! 🤩
Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore claim success in an eventful @Tattersalls_ie Gold Cup 🏆@curraghrace | @coolmorestud pic.twitter.com/ZnCeYRjYrj
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 25, 2025
This represented a true war of attrition in time-honoured Ballydoyle fashion, which was possibly too much for the likes of the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Kalpana and the G1 Champion Stakes hero Anmaat at this stage of their campaign. It represents a step up on last year's form for the winner, but O'Brien was keen to take the blame for him missing out in his big autumn target. “The Arc was a bit of a mess for him–it didn't suit him at all, he got left in front by himself and all he was doing was waiting,” he explained. “He's a big, idle horse and when he was there all he was doing was waiting on them to come and take him on. We knew what we did wrong last year–we knew we should have had something to take him there, but it was just the way it was.”
Ryan Moore was in irresistible form on Sunday, even by his standards, and added, “That was the best he has been today–he did everything beautifully and it was a proper horse race with no hiding place. The second is proven at the top level and he put it up to me, but my fella found plenty.”
Pedigree Notes
As far as pedigree is concerned, the substantial Los Angeles is truly hewn from rare rock as a descendant of the formidable broodmare Allegretta. She achieved immortality as the dam of the unrivalled Urban Sea, source of this operation's great sire Galileo and of one of the modern greats in Sea The Stars, while her other star offering was the brilliant 2,000 Guineas-winning sire King's Best. Allegretta's Riverman daughter Allez Les Trois, who is Los Angeles's third dam, gave no suggestion she was to become one of the industry's finest ancestresses with a race record that boasted a highlight success in the G3 Prix de Flore, but she proved a conduit of unquestionable quality once retired.
While she directly produced a G1 Prix du Jockey Club hero in Anabaa Blue, it was through her daughters that Allez Les Trois truly shone with her Nureyev mare Al Ishq responsible for the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois and G1 Prix Jean Prat-winning sire Tamayuz and boasting Authorized's G1 Irish Derby hero Santiago and Muhaarar's G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Eshaada.
Allez Les Trois's Kingmambo mare Violante produced New Approach's G3 Prix Messidor winner Impulsif and Frankel's G3 Pride Stakes runner-up Veil Of Shadows, but her Dansili mare Frequential has unlocked yet more of the abundant quality that flows through this dynasty. Her first three live foals are all by Camelot, with the G3 Ballyroan Stakes third Hector De Maris followed by the G3 Prix Penelope third Be Happy before this beast emerged. Anti-climactically, Frequential's unraced 3-year-old Front And Centre by No Nay Never is a gelding.
Sunday, Curragh, Ireland
TATTERSALLS GOLD CUP-G1, €500,000, Curragh, 5-25, 4yo/up, 10f 110yT, 2:08.41, gd.
1–LOS ANGELES (IRE), 131, c, 4, by Camelot (GB)
1st Dam: Frequential (GB), by Dansili (GB)
2nd Dam: Violante, by Kingmambo
3rd Dam: Allez Les Trois, by Riverman
O-Westerberg, Mrs J Magnier, M Tabor, D Smith; B-Lynch Bages Ltd & Longfield Stud; T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore. €300,000. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Fr, GSW & G1SP-Eng, 11-7-0-2, $2,476,628. *Full to Hector De Maris (Ire), GSP-Ire, $109,243. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Anmaat (Ire), 131, g, 7, Awtaad (Ire)–African Moonlight (UAE), by Halling. (140,000gns Wlg '18 TATFOA). O-Shadwell Estate Company Ltd; B-Ringfort Stud; T-Owen Burrows. €100,000.
3–Kalpana (GB), 128, f, 4, Study Of Man (Ire)–Zero Gravity (GB), by Dansili (GB). O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd; T-Andrew Balding. €50,000.
Margins: HF, 1, HD. Odds: 2.25, 8.00, 2.50.
Also Ran: White Birch (GB), Royal Rhyme (Ire), Ghostwriter (Ire), Deepone (GB), Crypto Force (GB), Continuous (Jpn).
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