HERMOSA IN DOUBLE FOR AIDAN

AIDAN O’BRIEN extended his monopoly of the 2019 Classics as Hermosa stayed strong to the finish in the QIPCO 1,000 Guineas.

The master of Ballydoyle (below) had struck when Magna Grecia, partnered by his son Donnacha, denied Richard Hannon’s 66-1 outsider King Of Change in the 2,000 Guineas over Newmarket’s Rowley Mile on Saturday.

And he completed the Guineas double for the fourth time of his recordbreaking career as 14-1 chance Hermosa (above) and Wayne Lordan made every yard of the running to hold Lady Kaya by one length.

The winner is a full-sister to O’Brien’s Hydrangea, a Group 1 winner over a mile and a half, and the trainer said: “We knew she would get the trip well.

“The plan was to go along. She was happy to go and, like her sister, she stays.

“It’s always about the blood — the pedigree is the road map — and that’s what we were following.”

Hermosa had made the podium in each of three attempts at the top level as a two-year-old, including when second to Iridessa, trained by O’Brien’s son Joseph, in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket last October.

“She ran an unbelievable race in the Fillies’ Mile last year and did very well physically over the winter,” added the winning handler, whose daughter of Galileo is 5-1 with Ladbrokes for the Investec Oaks at Epsom on May 31.

■ FANS of Newsboy and Value Scope were all celebrating on Saturday after the pair had both tipped up 11-2 2,000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia.