‘No Horse Likes A Fight More’: O’Brien Hails Camelot’s Los Angeles After Tattersalls Gold BattleCup

[Wandering Eyes]

Drawing on all his inherent toughness, Ballydoyle's Los Angeles defied Anmaat in a battle to the line in Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh. Sent off the 9-4 favourite after his comeback G2 Mooresbridge Stakes win, last year's G1 Irish Derby hero took over two out and responded to Ryan Moore's call to ward off the Shadwell runner late on having been headed inside the final furlong. A half length separated them at the line, with a length back to Kalpana 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. Aidan O'Brien has another bigwig on his hands in the 4-year-old, who 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 any pace 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

The post ‘No Horse Likes A Fight More’: O’Brien Hails Camelot’s Los Angeles After Tattersalls Gold BattleCup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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