Ground will be key to start of 2020 campaign for Love

Brilliant Classic winner ‘cantering away’ ahead of another big year ahead.

Ground conditions are likely to dictate where Love will kick off her 2021 campaign.

Aidan O’Brien’s filly enjoyed a flawless 2020 – recording a pair of Classic victories with brilliant performances in both the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Oaks at Epsom.

After dominating her rivals once more in the Yorkshire Oaks, the daughter of Galileo looked poised for a mouthwatering clash with Enable in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but was ruled out Europe’s premier middle-distance contest on account of the prevailing testing conditions.

And while a trip to America for the Breeders’ Cup was briefly mooted, O’Brien ultimately decided to give Love an extended holiday ahead of what he hopes will be an exciting four-year-old season.

Speaking via Zoom at the British Horseracing Authority’s two-year-old classifications press conference, O’Brien said of his top-class older filly: “She’s very well and cantering away at the moment.

“She will be ready for all those mile-and-a-quarter and mile-and-a-half races.

“She likes better ground and where she’ll start, I suppose, will depend on that.”

He added: “There’s the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh, but we probably wouldn’t go unless it was nice ground.

“She should be there for all those nice middle-distances races during the summer and into the autumn.

“Physically, she’s done very well.”

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