IRON LADY Laurens triumphs again

SUPERSTAR filly Laurens won her fifth Group One contest yesterday.

And she may not be finished yet. The pride and joy of John Dance and her trainer Karl Burke are plotting possible tilts at the QE11 at Ascot and the Breeders’ Cup in America. Laurens showed class and courage to win the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket in typically gritty style, fending off the late challenge of Happily.

Karl Burke’s stable star did the business just three weeks after winning the Matron Stakes on Irish Champions Weekend. Danny Tudhope, deputising for the injured PJ McDonald, made most of the running and soon had her rivals struggling.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained Happily did rally and Laurens dug deep but had a head to spare at the line with Roger Varian’s Altyn Orda in third.

Tudhope said: “She’s been a great spare ride

“She was probably a bit fresh and keen today but she’s done it well and is very tough.

“I was hoping she’d relax more and she did, she got the job done and is a super filly.

“PJ is hoping to be back for the Breeders’ Cup if she goes there.”

Burke said: “I might have been cursing the rain if she’d got collared. Danny said on that ground she was changing her legs, dancing and hopping around.

“Two out, I thought she would bolt up and she just needed the line in the last 100 yards.

“We’ve got a bit to discuss and the main thing is to make sure she’s A1.”