By Sean Cronin
Cheveley Park Stud's Estrange (Night Of Thunder) remained on course for bigger targets down the line and justified short-priced favouritism with a hard-fought victory in a tactical renewal of Saturday's G2 bet365 Lancashire Oaks at Haydock.
“Danny [Tudhope] said she normally falls asleep, but today she didn't quite drop the bit and ended up in front a long time,” explained trainer David O'Meara. “That's not how we'd like to play her, but it was a means to an end. She has a very good action and wasn't as relaxed as she normally is because of the way the race developed. She's four from five and she's won her Group 2 today, so that's brilliant. We were hoping it wouldn't be good-to-firm and the drop of rain helped. We've got five or six weeks to the [G1] Yorkshire Oaks now.”
The 2-7 pick, who stamped her authority on May's G3 Pinnacle Stakes over course and distance on seasonal return when last seen, raced several lengths behind the clear leader Love Talk (Ten Sovereigns) in second until well beyond halfway.
Bounding forward in the home straight, she eased to the front passing the quarter-mile marker, but was unable to shake off the persistent threat of Wathan Racing's recent acquisition Scenic (Lope De Vega) as the stamina test turned into a sprint. Estrange held a neck advantage at the line, with Love Talk fading to finish 8 1/2 lengths adrift in third.
🔴🔵⚪️ Estrange beats Scenic & captures the @bet365 Lancashire Oaks in a thrilling tussle 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/24l8peCLaO
— Haydock Park Races (@haydockraces) July 5, 2025
Pedigree Notes
Estrange, a 425,000gns Book 1 graduate and one of her sire's 33 Group winners, is the third of six foals out of the unraced Alienate (Oasis Dream), whose first was G2 Park Hill Stakes third Lmay (Frankel). The March-foaled grey is also a half-sister to Listed Silver Tankard third Basalt (Pinatubo), a 2-year-old colt by Lope De Vega and a weanling filly by Blue Point. Alienate is a daughter of the stakes-placed Scuffle (Daylami) and thus kin to five black-type performers headed by G1 St Leger hero Logician (Frankel) and the multiple Grade III-winning GI E P Taylor Stakes second Suffused (Champs Elysees). Descendants of Scuffle also include dual GI Diana Stakes heroine Whitebeam (Caravaggio). Estrange hails from the family of Group 1-winning sire Cityscape (Selkirk) and Group 1-placed sire Bated Breath (Dansili).
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